Keyblade of the Heart: Eight Months of Boredom
by TheJadeDragon37
Summary: The heroes have once again saved the world. Now that they have some time to relax what will they do with it? Will there be romance, humor, backstory, and maybe even some foreshadowing? You bet. This mini-fic takes place between Keyblade of the Heart and its sequel Hardships of the Heart.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Kingdom Hearts

**(A/N): ** Hello again readers. As some of you may know Keyblade of the Heart is going to have a sequel, Hardships of the Heart. That fic is going to be kickass to say the least. But we have some time before I get around to making that story. So while I was writing Bonds of the Heart I thought to myself I should do a short mini-fic to show you all what Sora and the gang was doing in between Keyblade and Hardships. Thus KotH: Eight Months of Boredom was born.

A Day in the Life of Sora

Sora awoke to the sun peeking through the shade on his window. His response, pull the blanket over his eyes to block out the excess light. It was only a few days since they had returned to Destiny Islands and he was going to make the most of his free time, which currently meant sleeping in. That had been his plan on the fly back home. When they had landed they found out that the school year was starting. They had completely missed summer vacation. Using the money they had gotten from King Mickey the three former mercenaries Solaris, Luna, and Mika, had bought a rundown mansion in the hills of the island. Naminé and Roxas not wanting to impose on Sora and Kairi's families had decided to move into the large house with the three Clestians. In no time at all the entire gang had helped fixed up the mansion for the five that were going to be living in it.

While Sora may have wanted to sleep in his mother had other plans. She kept knocking on his bedroom door calling out to him. It took her threatening to come in before Sora rolled out of bed and answered his mother. In all actuality he needed to be up early anyways. Yesterday in school he'd been talking with Riku about doing some sparring out on the beach. People had overheard the two heroes talking of course and the simple spar had turned into the match of the century. After the match against Riku he was going out with Kairi. It was going to be their first date since they had got back and they were going with Riku and Selphie.

Riku and Selphie... that one had caught him off guard. Apparently they had been talking about dating before they had to go and save the worlds from some crazed maniac. Selphie was with Tidus at that point in time still but she just didn't feel like he was the right guy for her. Kairi said that Selphie was experiencing "hero worship" and that she probably only like Riku because he had helped saved the universe. Sora didn't see any problem with using that to help get a girl. He felt that saving the universe, twice no less, had helped him get Kairi. Maybe it was more that it gave him courage than changing Kairi's feelings. Either way his hero status, yes Phil _hero _status, had helped him with the girl of his dreams.

After taking a quick shower to get rid of the stink that accumulated while sleeping Sora ate a quick breakfast and was out the door to start the day. It was half past ten in the morning and the fight was to start a little after eleven. With only a half hour left Sora decided to make his way to the beach and see who was there already. No doubt many people had come to witness the epic fight that was going to go down. Making his way down to the docks where all the children's boats were kept, Sora passed by Riku's house and saw that his friend was coming out of the door. It took a LOT of self control for Sora not to laugh as he watched Riku being hugged to death by his mother. Still Sora couldn't help but let out a few snickers at the expense of his best friend. He was as calm as he could possibly be when Riku was freed from his mother's death grip. Waving at Riku to gain his attention Sora called out to him. With a kiss on the cheek Riku's mother let him go finally and the silver haired Keybearer ran at a breakneck speed, hopping over the fence, to get to Sora.

"Dang Riku it looks like you couldn't get out of there fast enough," Sora chuckled as they started walking to the docks.

"I love my mom Sora, I really do. But ever since we came back she's been real protective of me acting like something's going to happen to me." Riku looked exhausted as he walked alongside his childhood friend.

"You going to be up for our fight today? I can always let you forfeit you know," Sora joked trying to get Riku focused on something other than his mother. "We both know I'm going to come out of this the victor anyways. You can just save yourself the humiliation of being bested by me." Sora was only half joking with his childhood friend now. After the beat down that he had given Eclipse, Sora felt like he was on top of the world and that he could take on anyone. He would never say it to Riku's face but the former user of Darkness hadn't grown as strong as he had.

"Nice try Sora. You may have gotten stronger but you're still no match for me." Riku wrapped his arm around Sora's head and brought him down into a noogie.

"Owowowow. Riku stop I surrender," Sora laughed as he tried to escape the arm that held him firmly in place.

"What's that? I can't hear you, keep going? Alright if you insist," Riku let out a chuckle as he continued for a few more seconds. It was all in good fun and neither boy actually minded. Okay Sora did a little; his pride was on the line if anyone saw them. With a pat on the head Riku let go of the spiky haired brunette and got shoved back in return.

"Boys," Sora heard a familiar voice behind him sigh. Flipping around Sora came face to face with the girl he would later be taking out for lunch. Kairi had cut her hair to the length it had been when she had first lost her heart way back when. Sora had pouted at her when she first showed up with her old hairstyle. It was fun to run his fingers through her hair when they were sitting around and relaxing. When Kairi had seen had sadden he was at the shortness of her hair she assured him that she would grow it back out and that he'd just have to be patient.

"Aw come on Kai, you seriously can't expect anything less than that can ya?" Sora put on a big smile.

"If you two didn't act like that I'd be worried," Kairi answered knowing that there was no changing, or understanding, the way Sora and Riku interacted.

"Kairi do you know where Selphie's at? She was supposed to be at my place an hour ago. I tried calling her but she didn't pick up." Riku wasn't hurt that Selphie wasn't there or that she wasn't answering her phone, sometimes she vanished for hours at a time with no one knowing where she went. Whenever she came back though she always had a gigantic explanation as to where she had been. Sora had given up listening to the stories because they went on forever. The girl did not spare you a single detail in her story. One time it had been all about her losing her cell phone at the mall and she had spent hours retracing her steps only to find that it was in her purse rather than her pocket. She then spent hours detailing the event.

"Honestly Riku, you call yourself her boyfriend? She's in charge of all the after school functions, ALL of them. Do you really think she's not at the beach setting up some ridiculous stage or something for you two to fight on?" Riku was left speechless by Kairi's logic. Selphie _would _be the one to go and have a stage constructed from scratch for them to fight on. Now that it had been pointed out to him Riku felt like an idiot.

"You're right Kairi," Riku said in agreement, "guess I'll see her when we get there then."

The three friends reached the docks and already they could see balloons, streamers, and pictures of both Riku and Sora scattered across the island they were headed to.

"We _have _to give them an entrance," Sora said gleefully more than happy to show off.

"He's right Riku. Looks like your girlfriend has really gone all out," Everyone turned around to see Mika and the others walking towards them. "You can't disappoint your audience."

"What, you guys are here to?" Kairi asked in slight shock. The Clestians didn't seem like they'd be the type to enjoy a mock fight.

"You'd have to pay me to miss this. Silver versus Spikes. It's the match of the century apparently." Mika had a wild grin on her face as she looked the two contestants over. It was like she was eyeballing two horses before a race. The two teenage Keybearers were nothing more than entertainment to the older woman.

"Mika they're just going to have some fun, it's a friendly spar that got some publicity." Luna rolled her eyes at how much joy Mika seemed to be exuding.

"Yeah but they're stars. Saviors of the universe, heroes. It's bound to be a fight worth watching," Mika countered her enthusiasm escalating.

"Hey Riku," Roxas stepped forward, "once you beat Sora I think we still have a score to settle."

"You got that Roxas. I'll beat you without using Darkness then." Riku smirked as he and Roxas shook on it sealing the deal. They still had a grudge to settle after all.

"We can't be watching the fight though," Sol announced to the group which was answered with an collective "aw". "Someone has to protect the audience. If they're going to be fighting then that means magic which they'll dodge and it ends up hitting some random person." As much sense as Sol made at the moment no one wanted to concede that he was right. Did he really have to bring up the possibility of injuries to noncombatants? "I'm good but I'm not going to be able to protect the all of the people. So who's going to help me keep a Barrier going?" All eyes turned to Naminé who'd been silent up to this point. She was the obvious choice when it came to protecting people. A simple change into her Cleric form and she could throw up a Barrier like nothing anyone had ever seen. Well not that powerful but you get the idea, protective magic was Naminé's thing.

"I have no problems doing it," Naminé sighed in defeat. There was no way that she getting out of helping Sol protect the citizens.

"C'mon Riku let's go give them a show." Sora patted his friend on the back.

"What about this entrance you had planned?" Riku reminded him.

"I was thinking we'd fly in but I forgot you can't fly."

"Wanna bet?" Mika waved her hand in Riku's direction and the Keybearer started to float up a few feet off the ground.

"How are you doing that?" Sora, Kairi, and Riku asked in unison.

"Float spell, duh." Mika shook her head in shame at the three's lack of magical knowledge. "Let's just get this going, Silver here isn't exactly the easiest person in to keep airborne and the spell isn't really meant for flight."

With Riku being lifted into the air by Mika, Sora stacked form abilities to leap high into the air and glide over the water to the island where the people were waiting for them. Both teens were greeted with loud cheers once they were spotted approaching from the air rather than the boats. Sora waved at the kids and teens that had gathered, there were even a few adults. Up on the wooden bridge connecting that odd circular rock to the island was what could only be described as a desk. Not a school desk but the kind an anchorman has. It had two poles coming up out of the sides and at the top between them were the words "_Sora vs. Riku" _written in yellow against black paper. At the base of each pole sat a large speaker and while they couldn't see it, a very tiny generator was running in the shack supplying the speaker with power. Sitting behind the desk in front of a microphone was none other than the self named "Brunette Bombshell" Selphie.

Spotting the stage that had been built for them in sand Sora and Riku landed as close to dead center as two people could manage. The stage was made of wood and Sora tapped his foot against to test the strength of the area he'd be fighting on. It felt pretty solid but then again he _had _cut through skyscrapers like they were butter. He'd have to hold a lot back if he didn't want to end up destroying the weak wood. Their hastily crafted stage was rectangular and covered half of the beach going right up to edge of the sand. As soon as they landed both Sora and Riku were swarmed by a gaggle of girls. A loud cough over the microphone from Selphie reminded the hoard of fangirls that the two boys were currently taken. While it made the majority of them leave a few still clung to Sora and Riku like leeches. Those girls kicked up dust as Kairi and the others made their way onto the stage. Sora grinned sheepishly at Kairi, who for some reason had the Oathkeeper in her hands.

"That's right he's mine!" Kairi shouted at the fleeing girls waving the Oathkeeper in their direction.

"Put it away Kairi," Naminé sighed at her former Somebody. "They aren't going to try anything with you here."

"You don't know that Naminé," Kairi snorted in disgust, "these girls are crazy."

"Come on Naminé. Let's get the barrier set up." Sol placed his hand on his apprentice who hung her head and transformed into her Cleric Form, complete with her Cleric's Grace Keystaff. Sol and Naminé suddenly disappeared from sight and reappeared next to Selphie. The two mages took position on either end of the desk and sat criss-cross applesauce, hey this is Sora's chapter things are going to be a little childish, closing their eyes and generating a series of protective spells over the arena. Together they created the same barrier that seemed to pop up when Sora faced a large amount of Heartless.

"Oh he yells at me for aging Roxas with 'dangerous' Time Magic but uses a Haste Burst?!" Luna shouted at no one in particular.

"Haste Burst?" Roxas and Kairi voiced.

"Normally Haste lasts for a minute or two before it stops working. A Haste Burst condenses all that speed you'd gain into four seconds, giving you the appearance of teleporting. The backlash can be painful but there's no real danger to it," Mika explained to the younger less experienced generation.

Selphie's voice broke out over the sounds of the crowd asking them to all turn their attention to the stage as the fight was about to begin. Sora hugged Kairi before she left to go stand with the other spectators. Sol and Naminé opened a hole in the barrier so that everyone could get to safety. Not that those left on the wrong side of the barrier needed protecting. With everyone gone from the stage Sora could feel the eyes of all the people on him and Riku. It was a little nerve racking to know that so many people had shown up. Sora soon got over it and started to drink the attention in, they were here to see him fight Riku and he was going to make sure that they got a show.

Both fighters stood facing each other sizing the other up before they called their Keyblades into their hands. The black handle of Oblivion flashed into Sora's hand as the Fenrir Keyblade appeared in Riku's. Sora felt good about his chances against Riku, he'd beaten him a few time since he had obtained the Keyblade. Now that he had gotten more experience while Riku had been incapacitated he thought that he was going to win easy peasy. A bell sounded, Sora didn't know from where, and Riku leapt into action at the sound. Seeing the attack coming Sora blocked the vertical slash and countered with his own. Riku twisted out of the way and launched another attack at Sora. The two traded blows with each other testing out how fast the other could respond, each attack was faster and stronger than the previous as they got into the groove of fighting. There were times when one of them would be faster and land a blow on the other only to find themselves soon cut. Both landing a few strikes before they broke apart.

Jumping back Sora unleashed a barrage of Blizzards only to have them hit a Shell that Riku threw up. The green shield was tinted black on the edges, traces of the Darkness still inside Riku. Having sized each other's physical capabilities the two moved on to testing out the others magical strength. Sora sent out various second tier spells at his opponent. Each was met with a shield or missed as Riku dodged out of the way retaliating with his own spells. Any spell that either of them dodged would wind up hitting the barrier or the ground. What Sora couldn't understand was how Riku was so strong even though he hadn't been training. Did he underestimate his friend's natural ability or was he himself not as strong as he thought? Either way Sora knew that it wasn't going to be as easy of a win as he had originally anticipated.

Coating Oblivion in flames Sora hurled the weapon in a Flame Raid. Taking a page out of Roxas' book Sora had sent the Keyblade on a curved path rather than a straight one. With his weapon flying through the air Sora cast a myriad of spells at Riku trying to land a blow. One of his Thundaga spells caught Riku right before the Flame Raid hit the silver haired teen. Riku cast a Cura on himself healing the wounds that had been inflicted on him. Recalling his Keyblade to his hand Sora healed his own wounds, not wanting Riku to have the advantage by being healed. As the green tendrils of Cura vanished Sora watched as Riku leapt into the air. He came straight down at Sora the Fenrir glowing yellow with Drain magic. Sora knew that even if he managed to block the Keyblade that the Drain magic would continue on and syphon off some of his strength. Instead of blocking the attack with the Oblivion, Sora created a Protect shield hoping that it would stop Riku far enough away that the magic wouldn't be able to reach him. His effort was in vain though. As Riku slammed into the blue barrier the yellow magic went straight through and pierced Sora's shoulder draining some of his strength and restoring Riku's. Again Sora found himself staring at his best friend from across the stage, which was surprisingly holding up under the strain.

_Alight, it's time to kick this up a notch. _Sora thought to himself as he found his inner power. "MASTER!" Mana gathered around Sora and fizzled out leaving him in his normal form.

"What the?" Sora was lost as to why his Drive had failed. He had been able to access them without absorbing a friend before, why was now different.

"Come on Sora, it'd be unfair if you could use Drives while Riku has none!" Kairi shouted at him. Sora looked over at his girlfriend and noticed that the Oathkeeper was in her hands still and somehow was piercing the barrier. Sora's sixth sense told him that Kairi had been the one to mess with his Drive change. There was a faint Dispel feel coming off the Oathkeeper and in the air around him. Normally the white magic spell wouldn't be able to work as Sora could use the mana while transforming to block the spell. As he had been focused on Riku he hadn't felt Kairi cast the spell on him.

"Fine, I'll just beat him the old fashioned way!" Sora shouted back.

Gearing up for another assault Sora ran head first at Riku and used a Haste to speed up his attacks beyond his normal capabilities. Riku had a hard time keeping up with his increased speed and received a number of cuts as proof. Sora's lack of knowledge in Time Magic meant that the Haste spell was short lived and Riku was able to gain his footing once more. Riku used an Aero spell to generate a small tornado around him pushing Sora away. Sora barely had enough time to roll out of the way as a Dark Firaga was hurled at him. Black flames burst against the barrier behind Sora causing a few audience members to gasp.

Again there was a large gap between Sora and Riku. As Sora jumped forward for another strike he was suddenly stopped as Roxas appeared before him with a Keyblade in his hand. Oblivion and Bond of Twilight clashed as Sora had too much momentum to stop in time. Over Roxas' should Sora could spot Luna using Flamberge to stop Riku in his tracks, the black metal of the Fenrir clashing with the red blade Luna used.

"Enough Sora," Roxas shouted.

"Why'd you stop us Roxas?" Sora asked bummed that he had jumped in and stopped the fight. Riku must have been asking Luna the same thing as he had the same confused look on his face that Sora did. Roxas and Luna both pointed up to the bridge where Sora spotted Sol and Naminé lying down.

"That's why, you two didn't hold back did you?! It was too much for them to handle but they kept the barrier up as long as they could!" Roxas was fuming and behind him Luna didn't seemed to be too pleased either. That last Dark Firaga had caused the barrier to waver, the dark energy adding more strain on Sol and Naminé then a normal spell.

"I'm sorry," Sora and Riku echoed.

"It's alright. While I'm not sure about Naminé, Sol wouldn't have said anything and won't complain a bit," Luna assured the two fighters. "Come on Roxas, let's get those two back home. I'm sure they could use the rest."

Sora watched in shame as two of his friends were carried off by their significant other. He really should have paid more attention to the state of Sol and Naminé. There was no excuse for him to have missed them collapsing like that. When he had started the fight he had been so sure that he could defeat Riku with ease that he'd been surprised at how strong his friend was. Riku presenting more of a challenge than he expected Sora had gotten caught up in the fight and tuned out everything else, not caring that his spells would miss because he knew they would clash with the barrier. Selphie announced that the fight was a draw and there would be no official second match in the foreseeable future. Kairi ran up to Sora and she had a pained look on her face. Sora could see the disappointment written on her face.

"Hey Kairi... we still on for lunch?" Sora asked hoping that at least he'd have that to pick his spirits up.

"Yeah," Kairi nodded putting on a smile for his benefit. "Just do me a favor and go change real quick." She pointed at his clothes that had a few pieces missing from Keyblade slashes and magical attacks. The red shirt he had been wearing was practically useless it was cut so much and the pants he had on were reduced to shorts.

-o-O-o-

After rushing home and changing like Kairi had so nicely suggested Sora ran all the way to her house, throwing in a Quick Run every now and then to make up for the extra time he had spent to take a quick shower. He didn't want to smell like burnt hair and sweat on his date. Sora had replaced his torn up clothes with a yellow shirt that had a black crown symbol on the chest, Sora's necklace had become an official trend since he gained hero status, and a pair of black shorts. Like most guys Sora only had one pair of shoes so he hadn't had anything to change into there, keeping to his large black and yellow shoes.

Coming up on Kairi's rather large house, Sora spotted her standing outside against the gate. Before she had been in a pair of white shorts and a pink tank top but she had taken the time to change to. She now wore a pink strapless dress with white flowers decorating it. The skirt portion of the dress flared out a bit and went down to just above her knees. She had on a pair of matching pink sandals and the charm bracelet he gotten her back in Twilight Town. The silver was a little tarnished but it was to be expected, after all she had worn it throughout the entire journey they had just come back from. Kairi was on the phone talking with Selphie from the sounds of the high pitched squeal that had just echoed throughout the world. Her back was currently towards Sora so he started to creep up on her. He managed to get all the way to her without her noticing him in the least. Reaching around Sora put his hands over her eyes.

"Guess who!" Sora shouted happily as Kairi let out a scream as she dropped her phone and jumped from suddenly having her vision cut off. Instincts that had been honed over the course of a journey kicked in. Kairi rammed her elbow into Sora's stomach. She spun around on the balls of her feet, Oathkeeper flashing into her hand with a Thunder spell ready to fire wrapped around the white blade.

"Oh my god! Sora I'm so sorry," Kairi quickly apologized once she seen that it was her boyfriend doubled over, Oathkeeper returning to the void waiting for Kairi to call it back.

"I should have seen that coming." Sora tried to wave it off like it was nothing. Normally it would have been something he could brush off after a moment but having just fought Riku, Sora was still a little weak.

"Well come on, Selphie and Riku are waiting for us at this new restaurant that's sprung up while we were gone. It's a buffet so they should have enough food for you," Kairi teased him. Sora's appetite was legendary among the restaurants of Destiny Islands. People could easily mistake him for an alien race that look like humans with monkey tails, for animal like humans that could change into lions, tigers, cats, and wolves. Hell he could be mistaken for a blue haired mercenary that had saved his world from a crazed Goddess of Order.

"That's what you said about the last place, right before they kicked me out," Sora deadpanned.

"You can't take the whole tray back to the table Sora. You're supposed to put it on a plate," Kairi tried to explain to him.

"I was saving them dishes!" Sora exclaimed feeling that his reasoning was sound. Kairi gave up, there was no reasoning with Sora when it came to food. It was like trying to kindly ask a Heartless to leave, not that some crazy people weren't prone to try that. "You said that Riku and Selphie were already there right?"

"My cell," Kairi said as she remembered that she had dropped her phone when Sora had snuck up behind her. The, surprisingly pink, phone lie on the ground Selphie's voice ringing loud and clear through the device. Picking up her phone Kairi apologized quickly, explaining that Sora had surprised her causing her to drop the phone. Selphie told her that they'd probably run into Riku on their way to the restaurant as he had heard Kairi shouting and had taken off thinking something was wrong.

Once Selphie had been assured that nothing was wrong Sora and Kairi started down the sidewalk. About a quarter of the way to the restaurant they met up with Riku who was more than slightly annoyed that he ran all that way only to have it be Sora that had spooked Kairi. The trio walked to their destination talking with Sora and Riku talking about their fight and what would have happened if they had been able to continue it. Kairi, who had her arm linked with Sora's, was stuck in between the two boys as they argued about who was better. They somehow wound up agreeing that they would settle the match over video games. As if killing each other in a virtual world like that would be able to demonstrate their actual battle capabilities.

Reaching the restaurant, The Jade Dragon, they walked inside and were greeted with the aroma of many different foods. There was chicken, garlic, noodles of some sort, and beef just to name a few of the smells that caused Sora's stomach to rumble. Sitting in a booth against the wall was Selphie who was on her phone probably texting someone. It seemed that every rumor that circled the islanders found its way to Selphie through her phone. When she spotted the three friends approaching the table she put her phone in her purse, which was placed between her and the wall. Riku sat down next to Selphie while Kairi took the inside of the booth leaving Sora the outside. It only made sense that Sora was the one on the outside, he would be getting up to get food far more often than Kairi would. A waiter passed by the table and stopped when he noticed that it was Sora sitting in the booth. After a warning that he _had _to leave food for the other customers, it seems they already knew about Sora. Once the warning was delivered the waiter asked what they wanted to drink, both girls ordered tea while Sora and Riku had a cola.

Sora and Kairi were the first two to go and collect their food. Kairi came back with a single plate neatly filled with a pasta dish and some garlic bread to start off. Sora however... he came back with a plate in each hand and one balanced on each arm, they weren't small either. Each plate was stacked with enough food to feed three small children. Kairi sighed as she watched Riku help Sora place his plates on the table making sure that nothing dropped. If Kairi hadn't seen him eat more before she would wonder if it was even possible for one person to eat that much food at once. Riku and Selphie then left to go and gather their own food, what Sora had left of it, and came back with normal sized plates.

"So Kairi, what was it like traveling worlds with your boyfriend? Did you guys run into anything weird while you were out there?" Selphie questioned once she had some food in her. There was no point in asking Sora the questions, he had started devouring the first mountain and would be occupied for a few minutes.

"Traveling with Sora was fun. He actually knew a lot about the worlds and how to go about things. There were a lot of weird things out there. We landed on a world where we were changed into lions." Kairi reminisced about the adorableness of lion Sora.

"You were turned into animals? How, why?!" Selphie seemed over excited for something that Sora and Kairi now considered simple.

"Because some worlds don't have humans so the magic of the world changes your shape so that you can blend in better and keep the world order intact," Riku explained. Sora had been paying attention and nodded his head in agreement. He had enough manners to not talk with food in his mouth.

Most of the conversation between the group was Selphie asking questions about visiting other worlds. She seemed to be really interested in what they had experienced. Sora figured that anyone would be curious to know about the other worlds, it was a whole other world after all. Selphie even asked about the Celestial Warriors and what they were after that had caused her best friend to leave home once again. All three Keybearers did their best to explain what Eclipse had been after while excluding all the horrible things that had happened, like Riku being taken by Darkness and the loss of Agrabah.

When they were done and the boys paid for the meal, like they should, they two couples said their goodbyes and headed in different directions. Sora wrapped his arm around Kairi's shoulder while she placed her arm around his waist. He was a little disappointed in how the date had went, Selphie had talked the entire time that he hadn't been able to really converse with Kairi at all. While he didn't have anything particular to say to her, he did want to talk with her, maybe tell her a joke or two so that he'd be able to hear her giggle or if the joke was really funny a full blown laugh. Now he was all talked out. How Riku managed to actually date Selphie was a mystery. Maybe it was because Riku was more the calm silent type and was happy to let Selphie carry the conversation responding only when he needed to.

They reached Kairi's house sooner than Sora had wanted. They had homework to do and both his and Kairi's parents had allowed them to put it off for a date. Sora felt lucky that his mom was understanding enough that she didn't force him to cram all the schoolwork he could into the short time he was going to be at home. All the parents knew that the teens were only home waiting for King Mickey to send them word on Maleficent and what she was up to.

"Hey Sora," Kairi said as they walked up to her door, "do you think we can try this again next weekend? I felt like we were more entertaining Selphie than on a real date."

"That sounds great, so shall we do the ever classic movies?" Sora joked.

"You know there is a new movie playing that sounds like it'd be fun to see but I was thinking more like a picnic in the hills."

"Sounds good to me Kai."

Sora pulled Kairi into a hug, holding her close for as long as he could before he would have to go back home. He felt Kairi move to stand on her tiptoes and push away from him just enough that she wouldn't hit his chin. Sora leaned down and placed a soft kiss on Kairi's lips. Their kiss was brief though as they both knew that Kairi's foster parents would be watching them. It ruined the moment partly knowing they were being watched but it didn't stop them from sharing a chaste kiss with each other.

"See you later Sora," Kairi whispered

"Hopefully we can get our homework done in time to hit the beach," Sora suggested.

"Sounds like a plan."

**(A/N): **Who got the references to Sora's appetite? For those who didn't, too bad. Restaurant is named as such because you humble author here plans to become a pastry chef one day.


	2. Chapter 2

**(A/N): **If anyone can guess where "Nozama Bookstore" came from, you're a smart cookie.

A Day in the Life of Sol

Sol sat at his the desk in the room he shared with Luna pondering the notes laid out before him. Various papers in his own handwriting were stacked in mounds around eight little crystals of different sizes that sat in the center of the wooden desk. Each crystal reflected the harsh light of the desk lap, the only source of light in the room, back at Sol taunting him with their secrets. The eight crystals were the same ones that Tony Stark had gotten for him back at Crystal Mountains. Leaning back in his chair Sol glanced over at the queen sized bed that took up a relatively small space in the room. Curled up under the dark green comforter was Luna sleeping peacefully. Looking around the space he shared with Luna, Sol could pick out a few things in the dark room. A large bookshelf rested against the wall near his side of the bed. Luna had been adamant about letting him have only one bookshelf in their room, the rest of his collection rested safely in the house library. Two small oak dressers sat next to each other each adorned with various knickknacks both owners found appealing. The most important item sitting on the left dresser was a small dagger that Luna had gotten from her father. Under Luna's nightstand were a set of knitting needles and multiple balls of yarn. It wasn't a skill she advertised but Luna knew how to both sew and knit. It was how they didn't burn through their clothes in a matter of days on the road. A yellow unfinished scarf sat on top of the balls of yarn the knitting needles stuck into the yellow ball.

Red numbers of the digital alarm clock resting on the nightstand next to Sol's side of the bed told the brunette mage that it was close to sunrise. He had spent all night trying to figure out how the crystals were able to change normal mana into its powerful purified form. Returning to looking at the crystals Sol took the smallest crystal, just large enough to rest on two of his fingers, he looked through the clear substance as if it'd suddenly reveal its secrets. Tossing the object back amongst the others it let out a hollow sounding noise as it clanked against the others. Luna stirred in the bed as the noise broke the steady silence of the room. Sol's attention quickly shot to Luna and he winced as her eyes slowly opened. Two sets of golden eyes were soon staring at each other in the dark room, barely lit by the desk lamp. Luna looked over at the clock and then back at Sol with a sad look on her face.

"Have you gotten any sleep Dear?" Luna asked using the pet name she had given him near the end of their journey to stop Eclipse.

"I woke up just a few minutes ago and couldn't get back to sleep." Thankfully the room was dark enough to hide the bags under Sol's eyes from all the late nights he pulled trying to find out the mysteries of the crystals.

"Liar," Luna yawned as she got up out of bed using the blanket like a cloak hiding her revealing pajamas she had taken to wearing. She walked over to Sol and draped her arms over his shoulders wrapping the blanket around him, the only thing between them the back of Sol's chair. "I'm a lighter sleeper than you think I am. If you woke up minutes ago I woulda felt you leave."

"Sorry Hon," Sol apologized using the shortened version of his pet name for her, "I just... I have to figure out how these things work. I have to figure out how to safely use them in the upcoming fight against Maleficent. We know she's out there and sitting here waiting isn't doing well for my sleep."

"Sol Dear, I'd love to reassure you that everything's going to be alright but..." Luna trailed off.

"I know. In the morning," Sol finished with a smile.

"That and you're forgetting Sora's already beaten Maleficent. Now come back to bed," Luna demanded sleepily.

"Just let me clean up a bit first." Sol moved his arms out from underneath Luna's grasp and started to pile up the papers he had been looking at. Tossing the crystals into the drawer spanning the middle of the desk Sol locked it both physically and magically to prevent any break-ins.

Though she had just woken up Luna had enough smarts to make sure that Sol actually got up and turned off the light before she had moved back to the bed. Sol hopped into bed after his girlfriend and laid down next to her letting a smile creep over his face as she rested her head on his chest. She placed one hand his shoulder opposite of the side she was lying on as if to hold Sol to the bed so he couldn't escape and return to his research. Comforted by the simple action Sol closed his eyes and listened to the steady breathing of Luna who had already drifted back to sleep. Maybe a good night's sleep was all he needed before going back to tackle the problems that plagued his mind.

_Beep beep beep_

Luna shifted and smacked the alarm clock hard before it could let out its fourth beep. Looking down at the sleeping person she had been using as a pillow Luna let out a sigh of relief, he was still sleeping. It was only four hours ago that she'd woken up to find him at his desk once again. Every night for the past two weeks she had woken up to find him at his desk either still going over his notes or passed out with a pencil still in his hand. Having gotten him to actually come to bed last night had been a triumph in her opinion. They had agreed to share a room when they moved into the house Sol had slept next to her each night for the first month, soon after he started to come to bed later, staying up to work on some sort of research or another. Luna had tried the simple approach of asking Sol to come to bed once she had gotten ready. It never worked; he'd just go and get ready for bed but never actually make his way to the bed. Sol would always stop at his desk to reorganize some papers and get caught up in trying to figure out how the crystal worked. After so many years of working with Sol and a few years of living with him, Luna had learned that she couldn't just outright tell Sol what she wanted him to do. He'd dig in his heels so they'd end up getting nowhere. Fighting her natural desire to just yell at Sol to come to bed she had decided to try and lure him. Despite everything, Sol was a living, breathing, human male. There were a few things that even he shouldn't be able to resist if they were dangled in front of him. Luna didn't go with anything drastic she only changed her pajamas of shorts and a tank top to a nightgown. While Sol had taken notice it didn't seem to affect him in any way. If she didn't know her boyfriend better Luna would have taken a greater offense to his passive reaction to her wardrobe change.

A knock on the door cause Luna to shoot up and glare at the person on the other side even if they couldn't see her. Luna got up and took the blanket off the bed Sol was still dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, using the thick comforter to hide what she was wearing. It was a short forest green nightgown that she had used a weak Vanish on to make it slightly transparent two nights ago. There was no way in the entire universe that anyone other than Sol was going to see her in it. She had an image to keep up after all. Not that he seemed to take any special notice to her when she had come out of the bathroom wearing it. Opening the door Luna came face to hair with Naminé. The young blonde had taken to wearing her hair up in a ponytail and all Luna saw when she opened the door was the top of the ponytail. Looking down Luna saw Naminé's cheeks turn a light pink as she looked Luna over.

"It's not what you think Naminé," Luna said quick enough that it made Naminé blush harder rather than ease her mind.

"I... I wasn't thinking anything. I came up to tell wake you up, we got to get ready for school." Naminé hadn't once looked directly at Luna since the black haired woman had opened the door.

Luna let out a heavy sigh. She had forgotten that today was a school day. They had all signed up to go back to school once they had gotten back from their travels, well all but Mika that is. Neither Sol nor Luna really knew enough about the technology found on Destiny Islands and wanted to learn more as they were now going to be living on the world. "I'm not sure that Sol should be going to school. He hasn't been getting enough sleep and I'm starting to worry."

"The crystals?" Naminé asked already knowing the answer.

"Yeah. He's so fixated on them that he doesn't even come to bed. He just stays up all night or falls asleep at his desk." Luna looked back into the room and at the sleeping form of her boyfriend.

"Just _sleep _with him," Mika voiced as she appeared next to Naminé a mischievous grin on the older woman's face. "Since you're answering the door in a blanket I'm starting to think that you did. Should I start counting the days till my little niece or nephew arrives?"

"Mi-ka," Luna hissed, "even if Sol and I _did _do that. We both know enough magic to prevent you from getting any niece or nephew."

"Oh come on Luna you two aren't getting any younger. You have what, 135 years or so before you're too old to have kids?"

Naminé looked over at Mika baffled by how casually she had said one hundred and thirty-five. Luna had a small laugh at Naminé's expense. While everyone was used to the fact that Sol, Luna, and Mika were older than they looked, none of them had gotten used to how normally the three treated their longevity.

"I know that Mika. Just cause you aren't going to have kids doesn't mean you can live vicariously through Sol and I. You want kids, adopt." Luna went to slam the door to drive home her point but stopped herself and closed the door gently. She lost some of the power in her statement because of it but she didn't wake Sol up.

"Fine, Naminé wanna be my kid?" Luna could hear Mika ask from the other side of the door.

Stopping in her tracks Luna did the math. Mika was seven years older than Sol so that put her at about thirty-six years old and Naminé appeared to be seventeen, eighteen years old. Mika certainly was old enough that she could have given birth to Naminé. Part of Luna wanted to go and listen at the door and hear what Naminé's response was but she had to get ready for school. Grabbing her uniform from the closet Luna went into the bathroom that was connected directly to her room. It was nice being the only couple that shared a room, it meant that she got the private bathroom and only had to share with Sol. It'd be hell if she had to share with Roxas, Naminé, and Mika too.

When Luna had finished her shower and gotten dressed she left the bathroom to find that Sol was no longer in the bed. It had been too much to hope for him to sleep through her getting ready. Doing a quick scan of the room Luna couldn't find Sol anywhere. Unwrapping the towel from around her hair Luna used magic and applied a very weak heat to her hair to help it dry as she left the room. Rushing down the stairs Luna began her search for Sol. Checking the living room first Luna spotted Roxas sitting on the couch watching television. It was some stupid cartoon even. Couldn't he watch something meant for an older audience? Luna headed to the room she really should have started with, the small library that Sol spent his free time in. The room was as empty of any signs of life leaving Luna to ponder where to check next. A crash sounded from the kitchen, as Luna took off she was praying that it wasn't Sol that had caused the crash and that Mika had done something stupid.

Luna's found her prayers unanswered when she reached the kitchen. Sol was standing in front of a cupboard trying to hold up various pans that had decided to fall down when he opened the doors. Rushing over Luna helped him place a few of the pans back into the cupboard so they all didn't fall to the floor. Picking a rather large pan out from the group that had fallen out, Sol set it up on the counter.

"Sol what do you think you're doing? You need rest right now," Luna told him as he opened the fridge and pulled out a carton of eggs. They had gotten the largest fridge that Destiny Islands shops sold in order to fit all the food that the house seemed to demolish. When Sora paid a visit and had dinner Sol always had to fix enough extra food for another two people, Roxas had definitely gotten Sora's appetite. The two boys could easily eat the entire kitchen's contents in two or three days depending on how much food they crammed in.

"I'm fine Hon don't worry. I feel great," he assured her while he turned on one of the stove's six burners. "Now how do you want your eggs?"

"Scrambled. But that's not the point. Sol, dear, you've been up for days with very little sleep. A half night's worth of rest isn't going to do you very much good."

"Don't you ever branch out? There are other ways to cook an egg you know," Sol sighed cracking three eggs dumping their contents into the pan and putting it on the on the heating burner.

"You listen here Solaris Adamas," use of his full name got the chef's attention. "You march right back up to our room and get in bed!"

"Damn Luna, already wanting round two? Didn't know my brother had it in him," Mika snickered as she entered the room. Luna's cheeks flared crimson at Mika's words. She was about to leap at the blonde when Sol put a hand on her shoulder stopping any such action.

"Luna. Honestly I'm fine. I'm not saying that I'm in tip top shape but I had a good night's sleep and a few things are clearer now. I promise I won't pull any more all nighters."

"Thanks Sol," Luna said sweetly, "can I kill your sister now?" Sol stepped out of Luna's way and let her go after Mika with a vengeance.

"Just remember she'll one day be your sister!" Sol called out after Luna.

Luna's head popped back into the kitchen. "I like what that implies, but you did _not _just say that at _this _moment in time."

"And if I did?" Sol baited her.

"I'm finishing you off after I'm through with your sister," Luna warned him.

"Ooo. Doing the brother _and _the sister. Damn Luna didn't know you were into such things," Mika taunted from down the hall.

"Stop twisting my words you perv!" Luna sent a fireball down the hall at the antagonizing blonde.

Sol couldn't see what his sister was doing but whatever it was Luna wasn't happy with it. His girlfriend was soon chasing his sister about the house no doubt Mika was making rude comments about it too. Scrambling the eggs that had been cooking on a low heat Sol finished making breakfast for Luna and started making his own eggs, sunny side up with a little basil on top. Naminé and Roxas soon entered the kitchen once the commotion had died down and the room was deemed a safe place. Sol asked both teens if they wanted any eggs for breakfast. Roxas was as original as Luna and picked scrambled eggs whereas Naminé asked if it'd be too much trouble for a ham and cheese omelet. Cursing the fact he had forgotten there was diced ham in the fridge Sol begrudgingly made Naminé her omelet.

Luna and Mika soon made their way into the kitchen with their argument still going full bore. Luna's hands were coated in flames and Mika kept throwing up small Shells to protect herself from the onslaught. When they both barged in Sol and Naminé shared a quick look with each other and both cast Silence on their pre-established girl. Luna glared daggers at Sol who simply pointed to her plate of eggs sitting on the counter that were starting to get cold. Sol asked his sister what she'd like for her breakfast since he had already made the other's. Mika just gave her brother that said "You Silenced me! How can I answer your question!?" Sol held up one finger and concentrated a bit of mana to the tip and used it to write in the air demonstrating how he expected Mika to answer

_Fine then, I want that thing where you cut a hole in the bread and cook the egg in that hole. _Mika wrote in a very nice cursive.

"It's called eggs in a basket Mika," Sol informed his sister "How many slices of bread?"

Mika held up three fingers as her answer. Now whereas most people hold up their index, middle, and ring finger or their middle, ring, and pinky finger Mika felt the need to be different. She held up her index, middle, and pinky fingers. When she had first done it Sol had asked his sister why she couldn't do it the normal way and Mika argued that her way was by far the most comfortable. Sol had gone through the three ways to display three with your fingers and found that his sister was correct and adopted it himself.

After they had eaten breakfast Sol and Naminé cast Vox letting the two silenced girls speak once again. Both Luna and Mika glared at each other before they left the kitchen through separate doors. Sol rubbed his temples trying to stop the headache that was sure to start forming. Figuring that he wouldn't be able to hand wash the dishes fast enough to leave time for a quick shower before school, and knowing Mika wouldn't do them, Sol enchanted the dishes to wash themselves. There had been a few mishaps when Sol had first tried the spell but nothing as drastic as what he heard King Mickey had done. On his way up the stairs back to his room he ran into Luna on her way back down, fully dress in her uniform with her school bag in hand.

"You're not going to school Sol," Luna said as she passed him by. Sol turned to argue but Luna was already turned around looking up at him with a look on her face that told Sol she wasn't going to be taking no for an answer.

"I guess a day won't matter." Sol chuckled as he stared at a pair of fiery golden eyes. Luna blinked and the fire in her eyes vanished replaced by joy.

"You're so smart Dear." Luna continued down the stairs as if the conversation hadn't happened at all and that she hadn't even so much as seen Sol walking up.

With his day suddenly cleared Sol had to find something to do to occupy his mind. It was true that his few hours of good sleep had helped him see things a little clearer than before. Still he had no clue as to what Maleficent was up to or how he was going to use the crystals safely. What Sol did know was that staying up late every night wasn't going to help him figure it out. He was just causing worry and he should be taking this time to relax. Besides Luna was right, not that he'd say it aloud, Sora had already beaten Maleficent and that was back when he was just starting. With the entire group fighting her there should be no problem with taking her out, he was just worrying over nothing. Entering his room and grabbing the book off his nightstand Sol headed back downstairs towards the library. The three school bound members of the household had gathered at the door waiting for Mika. Somehow, probably some sort of enchantment, Mika had managed to get a driver's license and now drove the rest of the house to school each morning. It was the downside to living in the large house far away from others, no bus of any sort stopped close by. Before Mika had gotten her license they had to leave a good forty minutes earlier to have enough time to walk to the nearest bus stop. Sol waved a goodbye as he walked past the group.

Reaching the library Sol flicked on the light and walked across the room to one of the large chairs positioned around a "doughnut" table as Mika called it. The table had a large hole in the center so that a person could walk inside and go across to another person rather than go around. The library was one of the largest rooms in the house. It rivaled the library in Beast's Castle in both collection size and in design. Luna, Roxas, and Mika wanted it to be the living room and put in wall-sized flat screen T.V. It took some convincing but Sol was able to get his sister to agree that the room should be dedicated to a library. Keeping spellbooks in a controlled environment was of great importance. Spells could be let loose into the world as the pages decayed. Sol had quite the collection of tomes that he had either borrowed from Disney Castle or Yen Sid, a few of them dangerously close to that state of decay. Not to mention all the books that he had copied and all of his normal novels he had gathered. The room was actually two stories tall with a balcony wrapping around the upper level. Spiral staircases on either end of the room connected the second floor to the first. Off to the left was a large window that spanned both floors. It looked out into the garden and let natural sunlight illuminate the room.

Like the desk back in his room there were papers stacked up in messy piles _and _in clean piles on his section of the table. They had divided up the table into five sections of unequal parts. Sol and Naminé each had a larger section than the others with Roxas and Luna barely having very little table space compared to the others. Books were laid open to seemingly random pages, no one knowing exactly what the golden eyed mage was looking for. There were a few other books sitting at the table, closed and waiting for someone to come back and read them. Right next to Sol's pile of texts was a neatly kept stack of spellbooks and school textbooks. Sol had been training Naminé in the arcane arts and the stack of books next to Sol's spot reflected what he had instructed her to read up on. A few of the books were ones on loan from Master Yen Sid that Sol had asked to borrow the last time they had seen the old wizard. Even Mika had a few of Yen Sid's books at her spot. Luna and Roxas' spots were empty of any books. The only time they used their spots at the table was for school work.

Cleaning up enough of his mess so that it wouldn't bug him, Sol sat down and opened the book he had taken off of his dresser. It wasn't a research book, just a nice novel he'd recently picked up. When he had first come to Destiny Islands he had gone to the local bookshop and made fast friends with the store owner. Once Sol had found the fantasy, mystery, and science fiction sections in the shop, well the little store had never seen so many books purchased at once. Six large bags were stacked with books and then Sol had to make a repeat trip to gather up the rest of what he had bought. Ever since then the little mousey girl, not an actual mouse this isn't Disney Castle, that ran the shop would call up Sol when they got in a new shipment of books. The book he was currently reading he had gotten from the latest shipment. It was a used book and a number of the pages were dog-eared but that didn't take away from the story written on the pages. As he opened the book up to the page he'd been reading the phones throughout the house started to ring. Levitating the library's cordless phone, everyone but Sol insisted on it in case they needed to take a call while in the library, over to him Sol answered with a short hello.

"This is the residence of Solaris Adamas correct?" a female voice asked.

"Speaking," Sol answered politely even if he wanted to hang up on the girl and actually start reading his book.

"Oh good. This is Cahya of the Nozama bookstore. We just got a new shipment in and I'm supposed to call you apparently." From the confusion in the girl's voice she must have just started working at the store, everyone at the store knew Sol.

"Thank you, I'll be there in a few minutes." Sol barely waited for the girl on the other end of the line to say goodbye before he hung up. A rare grin spread across Sol's face, new books did that to him. Racing upstairs as fast as his legs could carry him Sol jumped into the shower.

Cleaned and fully dressed Sol made sure that the magical alarm was working correctly and left Mika a note telling her where he'd gone. He didn't want to worry his sister too much. Of course that was saying she would even notice that he wasn't home at all. Walking down the streets of Destiny Islands Sol wished that there would at least be a few clouds in the sky to block the sun from roasting him alive. Clestia and Disney Castle weren't as hot as Destiny Islands on a normal day so Sol had to use a tiny bit of magic to surround himself altering the temperature to something he felt comfortable with. It was, as per usual, a nice day. The sun was still rising over the tops of a few of the taller trees and there wasn't a cloud in sight, much to Sol's annoyance. With all the kids and teens in school the streets were quiet, not even the adults were out it seemed. Sure there was the random person doing some yard work before the day got too warm, but for the most part Sol didn't see another person as he walked through the residential district.

Nozama bookstore was a quaint little two story shop nestled between a dress shop and a coffee house. The coffeehouse and bookstore had a small door linking the two buildings together so people could buy their books and go read them while they got a cup of the best drink known to mankind. The bookstore, like the other buildings around it, was a wooden structure. It was painted chocolate brown with Nozama written in white above the glass door and again on the one window to the right of the door. Entering the familiar building Sol took in a deep breath, nothing beat the smell of old books mixed with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. There were shelves upon shelves of books in the shop, just like you'd expect a bookstore to have, and the plus side of things was that there was _only _books. The shop didn't have little trinkets for impulse buys. Only books lined the walls of the store. Footsteps echoed from the second floor as someone checked on the stock up above. There was no back room for the employees, only a well structured basement that could safely hold books for long amounts of time. Standing at the counter with a single cash register was a girl that Sol didn't recognize. She had long straw blonde hair and purple eyes that were reading a book that slender fingers held out in front of a plain face. It was probably the girl that had called him telling him about the new shipment, Cahya.

"Hello welcome to Nozama Bookstore," Cahya said cheerfully when she heard the bell above the door sound off. "Are you by any chance Solaris?"

"Yes," Sol answered wondering why the girl was who he was.

"Auntie wants to see you, she's upstairs." Cahya pointed to the narrow staircase running up the back wall. Sol nodded in understanding and made his way to the back of the store and up the stairs. When Sol reached the second floor the only person milling around was the shop's owner, Fatin. She wore a pair of bottle-thick glasses that seemed to draw you attention to her hazel eyes. Her pink, yes pink, hair was pulled up in a side ponytail that hung down to her shoulder. She was a plump woman and had on a pair of shorts and a blouse.

"Oh good Cahya got a hold of you. But wait... isn't today a school day?" Fatin pondered putting a finger on her chin in thought.

"Well yes," Sol answered sheepishly.

"Then why aren't you in school young man?" Fatin scolded. Sol mentally chuckled as he was actually a year older than Fatin.

"I'm not ditching or anything if that's what you're worried about. I have an appointment later and there would have been no point to going to school for only an hour or so," Sol lied, never once hesitating in the on-the-spot creation.

"Okay," Fatin said with apparent joy. "So the new order we got isn't exactly books and I was hesitant on calling you." Sol was worried when he heard that it wasn't "exactly books" that had been delivered. What was the store going to start carrying now when simply selling books was working so well for it already? True, Sol was the best customer but there were surely other people out there that visited the shop. He may have bought a lot of books but certainly not enough to support the store on his purchases alone. Luna made sure that he didn't "blow" all their money on books.

Fatin walked behind one of the shelves sitting in the middle of the room, the Fantasy A-D shelf. Sol knew without even looking at the paper on the side which shelf it was. He heard the sounds of tape being ripped off of something followed by the sounds of cardboard flaps brushing up against each other. Whatever it was that Fatin had called him for, he was going to be among the first to see it apparently if she was just now getting into the box. First thing that Sol noticed when Fatin came back around was the small white box she now carried in her hands. On the box was a picture of a black device that appeared to be just a screen with borders just large enough for a person to hold without touching the screen. On the box written in black cursive was _Nozama E-reader_.

"What is that?" Sol wondered aloud.

"It's an e-reader silly. They're all the rage nowadays. Our little bookstore here is actually part of a larger chain of stores that span the islands. In order to compete with other shops the head honchos decided to start selling these. Now you can go online to our website and buy books to put on this little device," Fatin explained. Possibilities galore flowed through Sol's mind. If he used one of these e-readers than he'd be able to store a lot more books in one place and Luna couldn't threaten to burn them! He'd be able to keep the e-reader on him away from her destructive personality and have multiple books on him without using magic. However Fatin wasn't done explaining. "Since we keep records of what books our customers buy, you did sign up for membership when you bought your first book, you can download the electronic version of any physical book you have bought."

That was the icing on the cake. It was an ice cream sundae with a cherry on top. It was the best thing that Sol had ever heard of! He wouldn't have to buy all his books again just to carry them around with him on the e-reader. It was then that Sol did something he didn't ever really do, he outright bear hugged Fatin. He even went the full nine yards and picked her up, swinging her around in a quick circle before putting her back down on the ground. Sol's was brimming with joy at the prospect of the new invention.

"I guess calling you down was the right thing to do," Fatin giggled as she straightened out her blouse. "Well normally these things go for around five thousand munny. For our best customer, I think we can drop it down to thirty-five hundred."

"I'll pay the five thousand no problem," Sol assured the woman. "No reason to go tight on my wallet now after I've already spent so much on books."

"I do wonder where you get all this money from."

"Large inheritance. I've barely scratched the surface," Sol lied with ease once again. Fatin didn't need to know that he really had exchanged currency from a lost world for munny. Moogles sure did love the gold, silver, and copper pieces of Clestia. Sol and Luna hadn't exactly had a lot of money on them when they landed at Disney Castle but the Moogles quickly changed that once they found out Clestia would no longer be producing coin.

"Well I hope you'll keep coming to the store even after you start using this," Fatin held out the boxed e-reader to Sol.

"You said I can download, for free, the books I've bought the physical copy of?" Sol asked to make sure that he had heard her correctly.

"Yep."

"Then you'll still be seeing me. Nothing beats the joy of finding the book you've been missing." Sol took out his wallet and counted out five thousand munny worth of beads.

"Happy reading then. I'll still call you when we get shipments of new books."

"I wouldn't want it any other way," Sol said holding the box that contained his latest purchase.

**(A/N):** Yeah... Sol had to get an e-reader, can't have one of the universe's biggest bookworms fall behind in the technology of books.


	3. Chapter 3

A Day in the Life of Naminé

Naminé sat on her bed with her back against the wall. Her knees were brought up so her legs formed a small table for her sketchbook to rest on. Colored pencils lying in what appeared to be a mess to the naked eye, but for Naminé each pencil had a certain section to be placed. Those that she used most often were the closest to her and the further away a pencil was the less likely is was needed for her current drawing. A regular pencil was tucked behind her ear ready to erase the lines she had already drawn with it. Her current work of art was a picture of everyone back at Disney Castle after the defeat of Eclipse. Jiminy Cricket had taken a photo of the group and given a copy of it to each of the people in the picture. It was a nice group shot with Sol, Luna, Mika, and Goofy standing in the back row. Luna was smiling pleasantly at the camera while Mika was making a funny face, her arms draped around Goofy's and Luna's shoulder as if trying to pull them into a hug. While you couldn't see it, Sol had his wrapped around Luna's waist. While he wasn't smiling he did have a pleased look on his face though his eyes were trained on Mika rather than the camera. In the second row was the Keybearers. From right to left it went Kairi, Sora, Riku, Naminé, and Roxas. Sora had on his normal goofy grin and Kairi beside him was smiling. Kairi's beautiful smile and red hair instantly drawing your attention to her when you first looked at the picture. Riku looked a little mad but he had yet to get over being used by Eclipse for her own dirty deeds, so he was forgiven. Now technically Naminé was in the front row as Roxas was standing behind her. He had pulled her into a hug and had his arms around her waist holding her close. Naminé had been caught off guard by Roxas, her cheeks had turned a little pink as she realized the picture was going to be taken that way, still she managed to look at the camera in time. King Mickey, Queen Minnie, Donald, and Daisy stood in the front of everyone. Daisy had her arms crossed while she glared at Donald who looked back confused as to why his sweetheart was angry with him. The King and Queen stood together looking every bit like royalty.

Getting Riku's hair shaded correctly was giving Naminé a hard time. In order to better herself Naminé wanted to attempt to draw the picture as lifelike as possible. She certainly had moved up in the artistic world since her crayon drawing days in Castle Oblivion. When Naminé had enrolled in school Kairi insisted that she take art class since she was already carrying around a sketchbook. Naminé had been hesitant about it at first but was glad that she had let Kairi convince her to do so. Art class wasn't her favorite, astronomy held that spot, but it was a firm number two. The art teacher was a strict to those he thought had enough talent to make something of their ability. He had taken an interest in both Naminé and one of the other students. It ended up meaning he was more critical when judging, it did mean that their works were improving greatly.

"Hey Naminé," Roxas called out as he knocked on her bedroom door, "Sol's says he needs to see you."

"Okay," Naminé shouted back as she finished shading the bangs over Riku's right eye. "I'll be right out."

Just because they weren't actively fighting against the forces of Darkness didn't mean that they shouldn't be training. Luna handled the physical training and Sol the magical helping the Keybearers strengthen their combat skills. They were nowhere near perfect teachers mind you, but they did have more experience than any of the Keybearers and they were passing on what they knew. Naminé and Kairi both had a stronger affinity for magic than the boys which meant they spent more time training with Sol than they did with Luna. Three times a week Naminé would train with Sol, another two days with Luna to better work with her Keyblade, and one with Mika so she could better learn how to wield a staff for when she was in her Drive From. Naminé was a little saddened that she didn't have much time to herself with training and schoolwork. That was life though and it sure beat the dismal existence she had as a Nobody. Gathering up her pencils and putting them in a plastic case Naminé hopped off her bed and headed out of her room.

She went downstairs and headed out the back of the house to the gardens. Everyone had pitched in on getting the garden setup. Multiples of different flowers were placed in stone garden boxes. It was a beautiful sight, if you didn't care about clashing colors that is. Each flower bed had been planted by a different person, only Naminé and Kairi's boxes had matching colors. Back behind the eight rectangular boxes was a small hedge maze, what mansion is complete without a hedge maze after all, inside the maze were traps designed by Sol and Mika. It was one hell of a maze to say the least. Spring a trap and something nasty would happen to you. Anything from poison to paralysis traps waited inside, each day the location of the traps changed so that no one could memorize them. It was all part of the training that the Clestians had thought up.

Calling Destiny's Embrace into her hand Naminé steeled herself for what lie in wait for her this time. While the traps changed daily the route stayed the same, so far. Taking the first step into the maze Naminé heard the sounds of vines breaking out of the ground. She didn't even bother to check behind her as she already knew that her exit would be cut off. Turning right at the first intersection Naminé's sixth sense kicked in alerting her to the glyph on the ground, it was too obvious for either Sol or Mika to have put a trap so easily detected, there had to be another trap around it somewhere. Casting out with her sixth sense Naminé tried to find the trick to getting past. A weak feeling came from inside the hedge off to the side of the glyph. Sending out a Dispel towards the feeling Naminé felt the power vanish as the Dispel did its work. Leaping over the glyph Naminé continued on her way to the center of the maze.

She continued on through the maze finding traps within traps to test her ability to sense out weak magic. One that she had missed gave her a nasty shock, no doubt a trap laid by Sol. It was easy to tell which of the siblings placed the trap. Sol favored placing Black Magic spells that hurt but did little to damage. Mika was more prone to use debilitating Green Magic forcing the victim to use Ensuna or suffer through as spell ran its course through the body. As she had expected the route to the center of the maze hadn't changed. A large open area big enough to fit a small house was the center of the maze. There had once been a circular flower bed in the center but they had cleared it of the dirt and turned it into a small dueling ring. Standing in the center of the former flower bed was Sol with the Icebrand hung on his hip like a normal longsword.

"I see you tripped one," Sol stated as a greeting.

"I couldn't feel it," Naminé said a bit disappointed.

"You shouldn't have been able to. There are ways to hide the feeling of your spells from prying eyes. Some have an innate talent to see past the veil, we wanted to see if you possessed such a talent." Sol beckoned Naminé to step into the circle so that they could begin their training. With a nod of her head Naminé moved into the circle and readied herself for whatever Sol would throw at her. It was never a sure thing that he wouldn't attack the second she got into the old flower bed. Once inside the ring you had to be ready for anything to come at you, just like in the real world. It didn't seem like Sol was going to be doing that this time as there was nothing coming at Naminé when she stepped into the arena. "You're going to be learning something new today so dismiss your Keyblade," Sol instructed. When learning a new spell Sol always had her dismiss her Keyblade to prevent her from drawing on its full power.

"I thought we weren't going to be learning anything new for a while."

"You gotten the grasp on second tier Black Magic already, we need to move on. We're going to try and work on your debuffs next. This is an area where I need some work so I'll only be able to teach you a few of the basic spells," Sol informed her he raised one hand upwards like he was picking up a large object. All around the area straw and rock dummies in different sizes appeared. Only the small circle was free of any of the targets. Naminé awaited her instructions as kept an eye on each of the "enemies" around her. While the dummies couldn't cast any magic themselves it didn't mean that Sol, or Mika hiding in the bushes, would make it seem like they could. "Today we're going to work on Oil. Like the name suggests the spell coats the target in a flammable substance. It's good when normal spells don't seem to be working, you can generate a weakness to exploit. Allow me to demonstrate."

Sol pointed to one of the stone dummies and softly spoke the incantation for the Oil spell. Mana gathered around his hand and entered the physical realm as a black greasy looking substance. Flying from out in front of his hand the Oil spell coated the dummy, the stone looked to be oozing the spell as it dripped down the body. With a flick of his wrist Sol sent out the weakest fireball she had ever seen him cast. Upon contact with the oil, the dummy burst into flames. The flames didn't die quickly as the oil clung to the stone with vigor giving fuel to the flames licking the dummy's body. Then Sol did something Naminé was shocked at, he cast a Water spell on the dummy. If you know anything about an oil fire you don't use water to put it out. When the water hit the flames the results were astounding. Before the flames had just been coating the top half of the practice target, now that water had been added, the oil slid down the entire form of the dummy carrying the flames with it.

"Debuffs, as you can see, make it so you can inflict a lot more damage than you're normally capable of," Sol said. Without any physical movement Sol cast Ensuna clearing up the Oil spell and extinguished the fire safely with a Water. "Now I want you to try to use Oil on one of the targets." Sol gave Naminé the incantation for the spell and stepped away so that she could focus on trying to get the new spell to work.

Learning a new spell was always a hard thing to do. First you had to get the words for the incantation correct so you could properly control the mana. Even messing up on one word could cause the nature of the spell to change drastically. However the words on their own were worthless, you needed intent to cast in order for the mana to follow the course you wanted. When casting a spell you focused on what you wanted to do, in this case creating oil, and spoke an incantation to help focus the mana into the proper form. Doing one without the other resulted in a lot of nothing. Once you had the mana correctly directed you had to actually get it to appear in the physical realm. Mana wanted to stay in an energy form and would naturally revert back on its own until either the caster let go of the spell or the spell was tied off preventing the mana from returning to its natural state. After you project the spell into the physical realm you had to direct it where you wanted to go. The easiest way to do it was to create the spell in front of you and perform a throwing motion. Naminé had seen the older trio cast a spell without any motions whatsoever, but they were always weak spells that they had long since mastered.

Naminé stood in the center of the circle and repeated the incantation over and over trying to get the blob of oil to appear in front of her. After what felt like a few hundred tries she was able to get a few specks to form, but nothing compared to the large goop that Sol had done. In another few attempts she was able to get all the tiny specks together and form a marble sized orb of oil. Once she had that down pat, Sol instructed her to go ahead and try sending it at the closest dummy. Sending the spell outwards was the easy part and Naminé managed it on her third try. Much to her frustration, the oil froze on the way over and shattered upon hitting the stone dummy she had been aiming for.

"Just wanted to point out the downside to Oil," Sol explained without a hint of remorse at causing Naminé to fail in her attack. She glared at her teacher in anger that he could be so mean. Couldn't he just let her get one successful attack off before he started throwing curveballs her way?

Taking a deep calming breath to clear her mind Naminé created another marble sized ball of oil. Trying to hold her concentration on sustaining the spell Naminé looked for any hints that Sol would be sending another trick her way. Not finding anything Naminé sent the orb at the nearest _straw _dummy in hopes that if Sol did try something he'd be expecting her to attack the same target as before. Nothing prevented her debuff spell from hitting its intended target.

"Good job Naminé," Sol congratulated her as they both watched the straw absorb the liquid. "That's it for today, it's already been two hours and I'm sure you have things you want to be doing. If you want to check out more on debuffs there's a few spellbooks in the library on them." Naminé thought she would do just that once she had the time to study up on them. Her Black Magic spells were lacking in power and these debuff spells might help her gain a much needed edge against those that had stronger attack spells. Combine that with her natural affinity for healing and protective magic she could end up being a very helpful support mage.

-o-O-o-

Tired from her training with Sol, Naminé had taken a quick cat nap. Not wanting to sleep the day away she had set an alarm to wake her in by four. She had barely made it to three o'clock before a certain blonde haired woman was causing trouble throughout the house. She couldn't tell what was going on, only that Luna was mad once again with Mika. It seemed that the oldest person in the house was the one that acted the most childish at times. Feeling rested enough that she didn't need to resume her nap, not that she'd really be able to, Naminé headed downstairs and into the living room. From the sounds of the shouting Luna and Mika were in the game room, which was where the video games and other things like pool table were located. The living room was a medium sized room with two couches in a V shape pointing at the wall where the TV was at. Thanks to Roxas and Luna doing the shopping for the living room they had a large eight-five inch TV that was used very little as the one in the game room had the consoles attached to it. The only thing hooked up to the large TV was a DVD player and a satellite box. Finding the remote sitting on the end table between the two couches Naminé flipped on the TV to a rerun of How I Met Your Mother. Going through a quick search of what was on Naminé couldn't find anything that sounded better than what she was already on so she settled down into the corner seat of one couch and watched as Ted Mosby whined and complained about his life while his friends did far more interesting and funny things.

Near the end of the episode Roxas walked into the room looking a little worn out. He had probably just gotten back from his training session with Luna. They used blunt training weapons so as to not cut each other to ribbons and end up needing medical attention after each session. Blunt weapons could still break bones if the wielder wasn't careful enough. Thankfully though everyone knew enough healing magic that they were able to quickly address any breaks. From the way Roxas was rubbing his arm as he walked in it appeared that Luna had dealt him a powerful enough attack that he had to heal it. Roxas walked over to the couch and plopped down next to Naminé with a sigh. Placing her hand on his bruised arm Naminé eased the pain for her boyfriend with a bit of healing magic. I bit more control than a basic Cure was needed to fully alleviate the pain of wounds.

"Thanks Naminé," Roxas said as he visibly relaxed once she was finished. "I thought Larxene was dangerous with her knives, but Luna's a beast. She swings those swords around like they were nothing."

"Oh come on Roxas, I bet you got her back good." Naminé smiled trying to heal Roxas' bruised ego now.

"Actually... this was in return for cracking her ribs," Roxas confessed.

"Roxas!" Naminé slapped him on the arm she'd just healed. "You're supposed to be careful when you're training. What would have happened if her ribs punctured something after you broke them?"

"We would have come and gotten you," Roxas half smiled trying to lighten the mood.

"I had my training with Sol today, I could have easily been drained and we don't have any ethers lying around. The Moogles don't come back until Thursday!" Naminé pointed out much to Roxas' dismay.

"We would have figured something out. There are three other mages in this house after all." Roxas was looking worried but he felt firm in his argument.

"You're right, but that doesn't mean you can go and break her ribs like that." Naminé crossed her arms and let out a huff of disgust.

"Naminé listen, I was going to go to the market district. Do you want to come along?" Roxas was a little nervous in asking. While Naminé didn't buy gobs of stuff like some girls she did have that odd female need to look around practically all day. Roxas just wanted to go and pick up the new video game that had just come out. He couldn't have Naminé mad at him though and spending the rest of the day with her as she looked at clothes, art supplies, and other various things the shops sold could help her forget that he'd injured Luna.

"You're paying," Naminé said as she got up and went to grab her purse.

"I never said I was buying anything!" Roxas shouted pointlessly at the retreating blonde girl.

-o-O-o-

Naminé walked hand in hand with Roxas down the streets of town's shopping district. They had already gotten Roxas' game that he had come for and a new pack of colored pencils for Naminé. Some of the more used colors were nearing their end and needed replacing. Roxas was carrying the one bag that held both items they had gotten in the crook of his arm seeing as how one hand was occupied holding Naminé's and the other hand was holding a melting chocolate ice cream cone. When they had passed by the ice cream parlor Naminé had the sudden craving for bubblegum ice cream, with chunks of real bubblegum in it of course. Roxas complained since no shop in Destiny Islands carried sea-salt ice cream and he had to settle for chocolate. He swore that one day he was going to bring Scrooge McDuck to Destiny Island's so that the shops could start selling it. Naminé had tried to convince him to get a more exciting flavor than chocolate but Roxas said that it was either sea-salt or chocolate for him. Naminé had shaken her head in response to his stubbornness.

Now they were just walking along the streets seeing what the shops had displayed in their windows. Naminé would randomly stop with no warning to look in a window causing Roxas to jerk her arm as he tried to keep walking. At one point he had been licking his ice cream cone and Naminé was firmly planted on the ground fully expecting Roxas to keep walking. She couldn't help but laugh when she _heard _the ice cream smash into his face. The look of pure shock and the chocolate ice cream all over his face only added to the humor of the scene. Feeling a little bad that she had caused it, even though it was his own fault, Naminé gave Roxas a peck on the cheek. At least that had been the plan until Roxas turned his head so she caught him full on the lips instead. Naminé went with it rather than pulling back right away. It was Roxas' turn to laugh when Naminé did pull away. She had a ring of chocolate ice cream around her mouth from coming into contact with Roxas'. It took a second before it dawned on Naminé just what Roxas was laugh at. Reaching into her purse she pulled out a napkin and wiped her face off. Roxas asked for one and Naminé simple zipped her purse back up like she hadn't heard him. In actuality she had taken two napkins out and had hidden one within the other so that she could tease Roxas a little first. After a bit of pleading Naminé handed him the napkin and they continued their trek down the sidewalk.

"So Naminé are you about doing looking at... nothing?" Roxas asked as they stood out in front of a home decor store. There was no window that let passersby see what the store held which only added to the confusion as to why Naminé was stopping. It was a large warehouse type store that had more things in it than Roxas could ever dream up.

"Nope. I want to go in but they don't allow food." Naminé pointed to a sign hung on the door that clearly stated such.

"What could you possibly need that's in their?"

"I don't know, that's the fun of going in and checking the store out." Naminé said it as there was nothing more obvious in the entire world. They stood outside the store finishing the last little bit of their ice cream before heading in, Naminé now chewing a wad of bubblegum.

They entered the store to find it filled with painting, vases, candles, candle holders, and little figurines. Keep in mind that was just what they could see when they entered the building. Naminé walked down the nearest aisle filled with rugs and lamps. Taking Roxas' hand in hers Naminé dragged him after her into the store. Looking at pictures of the rolled up rugs Naminé was having fun trying to find out which one would look the best in the living room. It really needed something more than two couches, a TV, a long wooden entertainment center, and two tables. A new rug to place under the table could add a lot to the drab room. Stopping when she found picture of a black oval shaped rug with faded green leaves forming a grid pattern with a bumblebee inside square Naminé tried to find the right rug. She pointed out the picture to Roxas so that he could help look too. After a minute or two with no luck of finding the rug Naminé sent Roxas to go and get one of the store clerks. The bumblebees were so cute and the green leaves set against the black would go perfectly with the two brown couches they had. If the couches didn't match than a simple spell could change the shade their shade so they did. When it came to drawing Naminé would consider that cheating. This was home decorating, not drawing, so there was no reason she couldn't help herself out a little.

Roxas soon came back with a lanky man wearing a red apron over a white shirt and black pants. When Naminé asked if he knew where the bumblebee area rug was at the clerk gave her a blank expression. Pointing out the picture of the rug she wanted Naminé asked the clerk again if he knew where the rug was stored at, again she got a vacant look in response. Instead of helping them find out where the rug was at the not so smart clerk suggested that they try to find another rug. Annoyed that the guy who worked in the store was unable to help them, Naminé politely asked him to leave them so alone that they could try to find another rug. Try as she might though Naminé couldn't find another rug that appealed to her as much as the bumblebee one, part of it was simply wanting what she couldn't have.

"Naminé why don't you just buy another rug and use magic to alter it to the bumblebee one?" Roxas suggested after Naminé had just about given up on finding anything.

Blue eyes shone with joy at the realization that she could do just that. Heck she could buy the cheapest rug she wanted and use magic to make it into the look she wanted. "Roxas! You're a genius!" She shouted and jumped at him pulling him into a fierce hug. So much strength and emotion was in the hug that it threatened to break Roxas in two. Naminé may be a petite girl but she was supernaturally powered and could easily deliver a bone crushing hug to an unsuspecting Roxas. Once he got over the shock of the hug attack and was able to withstand it, Roxas smiled and returned the hug in full. "Oh now we need to find the rug that feels the best. I don't know how to change the feel of an item, but color is no problem!" Reinvigorated Naminé set about feeling all the rugs to find the one that she best enjoyed. Taking out her sketchbook from inside her purse Naminé magically copied down the design of the rug so she could remember it for later.

When she had found her "perfect" rug Naminé decided that they would need curtains to match and she dragged Roxas to another part of the store where the fabric was kept. The windows in the living room were rather large and they would need custom made curtains so they needed fabric rather than stock curtains. It was simple choice much to Roxas' pleasure. Naminé had just picked out a shade of green that went with the leaves on the rug. After Naminé had picked out everything that she needed, including a sewing kit from the fabric department, they headed to the front of the store to check out. She was going to learn how to sew if it meant having the perfect set of drapes for the living room. Naminé was a professional home decorator in the making.

Heading to the checkout counters with a trolley to haul the rug and large amount of fabric Naminé had picked out Roxas was a little worried about how much it was going to cost. He didn't exactly bring a lot of munny with him and if he knew anything about home decorating, it was that it wasn't exactly easy on the wallet. When the check out lady rang everything up Roxas felt his jaw drop. Displayed in green were the numbers 68,989.97. Taking his grey duct tape wallet, yep a wallet made of duct tape, out of his back pocket Roxas counted the inside. He only had ten thousand on him the rest was stored safely in his bank account with the Moogles. Roxas looked down at Naminé with a worried look on his face. She had already anticipated that Roxas wouldn't have enough on him though and was reaching into her purse for her own wallet. Pulling out enough bills and beads to make up the difference Naminé bought her rug, fabric, and sewing kit. She was eager to get home and start working on making the drapes for the windows. First she'd have to learn how to sew. She hoped that Kairi, Kairi's mother, or Sora's mom would be able to help her get started.

"Uh Naminé," Roxas said as a light clicked on in his head, "how are we going to get this all home?"

"That's a good question." Naminé smiled as she looked at the heavy rug lying on the cart. Both the fabric and sewing kit had been bagged but there was no way the rug was going to be put into a small paper bag. "Guess you'll be getting some more exercise today than you thought. Maybe Luna will go easy on you tomorrow cause of it." Naminé took the bag with her purchases and the one that Roxas had been carrying around freeing up both of his arms to carry the imposing rug. With a sigh Roxas rolled up the rug and tossed it over his shoulder carrying it like cartoon characters carry steel girders.


	4. Chapter 4

**(A/N): **Despite this chapter being Mika's... it's not a fun one. Mika acts the older sister and reveals a bit of her and Sol's past to Luna and it's NOT pretty. Brace yourself as I prove that I can write a dark chapter.

A Day in the Life of Mika

Work was boring. That was the single thought that kept repeating in Mika's mind. She had gotten a part time job at the local bar in order to earn some extra cash. All her munny had been left along with her music collection back in the Celestial Warrior's castle. In other words she was flat broke and had to borrow munny from her _younger _brother whenever she wanted to buy something. That didn't sit right in her mind so not long after they had moved into the mansion Mika had gone out to look for a place that she could earn a bit of cash so that she wouldn't have to bum off her brother. Sadly Destiny Islands didn't have use for a mercenary, so that was quickly tossed out the proverbial window. After spending a week looking for a place that'd hire her Mika had found a help wanted sign sitting in the bar's window. A short interview later and Mika had herself a job as a bartender. Mika worked three days a week from six to two and she got to keep all the tips she earned, which were quite a few.

Now she stood behind the bar and waited for a customer to enter. Today was a slow day for some reason leaving Mika nothing to do but stand around and wait. There wasn't any festival going on nor was there a sporting event that was taking in all the customers. It was only a quarter past six but Mika's shift didn't start her shift when the place opened. When she got to work there was normally two or three people sitting at the bar being served by the guy that worked the shift before Mika's. Tonight was normally the busiest of the entire week too, it was Karaoke Night. The night that murdered song after song as drunk tuneless people attempted to sing popular songs. It wasn't bad enough that they couldn't sing to save their life. They had to do it only after having a few too many beers. While how funny their performance was, was directly connected to the amount of alcohol they had consumed, so was how badly they sang. One of the things that Mika had to get used to was that there was a drinking age of nineteen in this world. Back on Clestia so long as you had the gold for it you could get a beer in most taverns. Some of the more respectable places had an age restriction but they were too few and changed per building so it didn't really affect the general population.

Occupying her time by checking the bottles behind the counter to make sure that she wouldn't have to run Mika perked up when she heard the door open. It was your average Joe of a guy wearing jeans, t-shirt, and short hair, nothing special that would attract anyone's attention. He sat in one of the booths in the place which meant that Mika didn't have to worry about him. One of the waiters would take care of his order and only bug her to make his drink. Going back to checking the bottles Mika noticed that the watermelon schnapps was running a little low. Writing it down on a small notepad Mika went and wrote down anything that she felt she could run out of if the place actually started to pick up. Since she was the only bartender working at the moment she couldn't leave the bar no matter how empty the place was, it was the rule of the building. So Mika pressed a button next to the cash register that called one of the waiters over. Well, _waitress _over. One of average height full and full figure with short red hair that had her shirt unbuttoned enough that she always got a tip from the guys.

"Whatcha need Mikaela?" the girl asked.

"Terry I've told you countless time, it's _Mika_," the blonde said annoyed holding out the notepad with the items she needed. "Just a restock. Take your time though, seems like it's going to be dead tonight."

"I don't think you'll be selling much tonight Mikaela, we're open for all ages tonight. The restaurant side of things ain't doing too well so the owner is trying to gather more people in tonight. That means fewer people will be stopping by the bar as they have to bring their kids," Terry informed Mika as she looked up and down the list of things Mika requested.

"You've got to be kidding me. There were two perks to this job, hot drunk girls and no kids. Oh gods no, they're coming in on Karaoke Night?!" Mika yelled in realization.

"Yep, that's part of the attraction."

"Somebody kill me," Mika whined as she collapsed onto the bar. She laid there for a few seconds contemplating if there was a way out before she shot back up with a grin on her face. "It's a half past six and only one guy's come in. Maybe this idea will be a flop."

"You really don't like kids do you?" Terry asked shaking her head.

"I almost adopted before my wife died, but yeah. Not a fan of kids."

"You don't look old enough to have a dead wife Mikaela."

"I'm plenty old enough Terry," Mika assured the girl, "and it's Mika."

"How long were you married when she died?" Terry questioned. It was just another attempt to pry into Mika's life. The redhead seemed to come up with a new set of uncomfortable questions each day. When she had found out Mika was a lesbian... it had been a bad night for Mika.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Trust me." Mika prayed that someone, anyone, would come to the bar so that she could go and wait on them rather than play another set of twenty uncomfortably inappropriate questions.

"Oh come on tell me. I know that you came back with Sora and the others. That means you're from another world which could mean your people have different ideas than ours."

"Yeah... Sora should have kept his mouth shut on that. There's law out there that says you aren't supposed to reveal the fact other worlds exist." Mika stared at the door as if to command it to open and let some patron into the building that could save her from the annoyance next to her.

"Kind of hard to hide it when a few kids go missing. Besides it's not like we can do anything about the other worlds," Terry said with an upbeat look on her face. There was just no bringing the girl down from her cloud of rainbows and unicorns.

_Need job... can't yell at daughter of the boss._ Mika mentally repeated that to herself in order to keep her calm. Terry's father was the owner of the bar and though he said to treat Terry like any other employee the last person who had done that had Mika's job. "You're right," Mika said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, looks like you got a customer. I'll be back with these in a jiffy." Terry smiled holding up the list Mika had given her before disappearing into the back room.

_Oh thank gods I thought she'd never leave. Now who's this customer I have? _Mika wondered turning to come face to face with a person that she would never have thought to find in a bar. This person was at the top of the list on the list of people she thought to never find in a bar. "Solaris!? What the hell are you doing here?"

"It's date night," he deadpanned.

"Wait that means..." Mika trailed off as Luna entered the building. "She drinks?"

"Once in a great while, but yeah. I'm here to make sure nothing gets set on fire. Her control of magic goes down the drain when she drinks," Sol sighed taking a seat on of the many barstools.

"This is where Mika works? Sol why'd you take me here?" Luna growled as she took the seat next to her boyfriend.

"Isn't it obvious?" Mika asked already knowing the answer.

"Would I ask if I knew?" Luna pointed out.

"True enough. No doubt brother brought you here cause you two are known High School students. In other words, you're too young to be served alcohol. I'm the only bartender on this world that knows you two are old enough to drink." Mika smirked knowingly at the raven haired girl. It brought her joy to get under Luna's skin. She always gave good reactions when she got angry, and she got mad pretty quickly. "So what you getting Luna? "

"Depends, what can you make?"

"Everything on the menu," Mika said pointing to a list of drinks hung up on the wall behind the bar. "Take your time picking, I need to talk with Sol for a minute." Mika moved down the bar and motioned for her brother to follow her. Sol got up out of his seat and moved down towards Mika. When they were far enough away from Luna that she wouldn't be able to hear them if they whispered Mika leaned over the counter and whispered to her brother: "Sol go home, I'll watch after Luna. I _know_ you don't want to be here and that you're just being the nice boyfriend. That's no excuse to put yourself through this."

"I... Thanks Mika. I'll just tell her I need to get some sleep." Mika nodded her head and watched as her brother got up and walked over to Luna. She stayed back so she didn't fully hear what they said but she did watch Sol give Luna a peck on the cheek before heading out the door. Her brother had really opened up over the years. She never thought that he'd be willing to go into a bar, even if it was for a girl. He'd grown since she'd last seen him on Clestia. Only once she was sure that Sol was well and truly gone did Mika go back down to Luna who had a hurt expression on her face.

"Listen you ain't getting a drink out of me," Mika told Luna in a serious tone. There was none of her normal fun in her voice. Gone was the girl that poked fun at others and joked around with a smile on her face, Mika was acting like a protective older sister at the moment. It was rare that she adopted a serious nature so Luna was a little taken aback by the sudden shift. "So pack up and head out. Go and find something that Sol wants to do. You can still catch him before he gets home."

"Mika, I just want one drink then I'll be out of your hair. Trust me I rather not have you take my order but as you pointed out _you _are the only that would."

"I told you Luna, you ain't getting a drink out of me. I bet you anything that Sol was reluctant to go to a bar wasn't he?" Mika asked hoping that Luna had been observant enough to pick up on Sol's subtle emotional giveaways. He'd gotten better at expressing himself but he still held a lot in, only someone who knew what to look for would be able to spot the small differences in Sol's manner when he got uncomfortable.

"Well yeah, but that's cause he doesn't like drinking."

"And have you asked him why?"

"I just thought he didn't like the taste. I keep telling him he should just try another drink but he refuses."

"Remind me to smack the both of you when I get home," Mika sighed. "Does Sol really seem like the kind of guy that'd be reluctant to go into a bar simply because he doesn't like the taste of alcohol?" Mika didn't give Luna a second to answer and kept going. "No there's a deeper reason you idiot. You worked with him while in the Knights, I'm sure you guys talked about your families at least once in that time right?"

"Yeah, Sol said that both of his parents were dead and that he had an older sister he hadn't heard from in years," Luna answered unsure of where Mika was going with the story.

"Take it he didn't tell you how our parents died otherwise we wouldn't be having a problem right now. Our mother was a waitress at the local tavern. Some guy got drunk and thought he'd have a little fun with our mom. It was late and the place was closing up so there wasn't anyone to help our mom when the guy tried to 'have a little fun'." Mika stopped and took a deep breath. It was _years _ago that her mother had died. Sol had only been five when it happened and he'd taken her death hard. It was right after her death that he retreated into the world of books and he was just starting to really come back out. "Mom fought back of course, I didn't get my fiery spirit from our dad. The drunk didn't like his prey fighting back so he took out his knife and cut our mother until she could no longer fight back. He probably gagged her to so that no one would hear her scream. By the time the cook came out of the kitchen it was too late for even the town healer to save her."

"Why didn't Sol say anything? Had I known that I'd never had insisted on coming here." Luna was doing her best not to cry. She was realizing just what exactly she had put Sol through by asking him to take her to a bar.

"Oh it doesn't stop there," Mika frowned gearing up to tell the rest of the story, "dear old Dad took to the bottle right after Mom's death. Sol retreated into the one real memory of mom he had, books. Dad wasn't a violent drunk or anything but he did neglect his kids. A few years later I couldn't handle babysitting Sol and our dad anymore so I joined the Knights leaving Sol home alone with dad." Luna looked at Mika horrified that she had had left her little brother like that when he had no one to take care of him. "There's nothing you can say that I haven't thought of myself. Trust me, when Rin found out I got quite the earful. I sent Sol money and books with my earnings when I could but I never went back home, not even when Dad died from drinking too much in one night. That happened not long after Sol turned eleven. Now you know why Sol doesn't like alcohol and bars." Mika finished her story and looked down on the girl that sat across from her. It wasn't a tale she had thought she was going to be telling when she had woken up this morning. Luna needed to know though if she was to continue dating Sol. He sure as hell wasn't going to tell her anytime soon, if at all. Mika's job as older sister was to protect her little brother. She had failed quite dramatically in the past and like hell she was going to make the same mistake twice.

"Thank you for telling me that Mika. But why are you working in a bar if you have that kind of memory attached to them?"

"Time heals wounds if you let it. I never leave the bar while I'm here, I make sure that nothing like that happens when I'm working," Mika said with a hint of pride in her voice. "Now go home and show my brother just how much you care for him. He needs a little pick-me-up after what you put him through. Don't forget to use protection though," Mika added with a grin attempting to lighten the mood and return things to normal.

Luna rolled her eyes at Mika's last comment. "You can't be serious for long can you?"

"Nope. It's no fun being serious. Life's a lot better if you look on the brighter, funnier, side of things."

"Well I'll see you tomorrow Mika, I got to go apologize to Sol." Luna got up and left the bar running, barely stopping to open the door wide enough for her to squeeze through.

_Well can't say I don't like the girl. Her hearts in the right place, it just takes a shove from time to time. Wish you were here Rin, you were always better at helping people out in times like this. _Mika took up a dish rag and started to wipe down the counter to occupy her mind. Try as she might she just couldn't shake the negative feelings that came with the retelling of her parents' death. It just reminded her of how bad of a sister she had been to Sol. Her own failure weighed on her mind more than the death of her parents. Sol had been so young when she left home; he had to grow up faster than she did. True she had only been twelve when she had turned into the caretaker of the family, but Sol had only be seven when he had to take care of himself and a drunk father. He had almost no childhood to speak of and his own sister had been the one to rob him of it. More than a few times Mika wondered how Sol turned out as well as he did and why he even talked to her. When Mika had told Rin the story she had broken down and cried most of the night letting her kind wife deal with a broken excuse for a human being. It was the main reason that Mika had been so reluctant to adopt a child that Rin so desperately wanted and deserved. If she couldn't take care of her own brother how was she going to be able to handle a kid? After a few years of assurance from Rin she had finally felt ready only to have the Heartless invade their world and have her end up losing Rin.

"Oh... my... god..." Mika heard the familiar voice of Terry of to her right. Looking over in the direction she heard the voice Mika saw the redhead standing in front of the door leading to the back room. She was holding a crate, bottlenecks sticking out of it every which way. "I had no idea your parents were dead let alone that they had died so horribly."

"It's not something I just come out and tell people," Mika sighed really not in the mood to deal with the girl now. For once it seemed that Terry had gotten the hint that Mika didn't want to talk about her personal life. Death of someone's parents was a big deal and it wasn't something that people with a lick of common sense asked about, especially when you weren't really close with the person. You didn't ask about it, you let them tell you about should they wish to indulge you, if only Terry could understand that when it came to asking about Rin.

"Hey Mika." The blonde blinked in shock at hearing Terry using her shortened name. "Do you want to take the night off? I'll take cover for you with Dad."

"That's a kind offer Terry but I'm fine," Mika tried to assure the girl even if it was a blatant lie. If the bar was truly going to be open to the general public tonight than Mika really didn't want to be there. People would get loud, talking loud enough to be heard over the other people causing everyone in the building to end up practically yelling. Anyone that did come up to the bar would sit there and gripe to Mika about the noisy people and just end up getting on Mika's nerves. Going home for the night probably would be the best idea. "Actually Terry on second thought, I'll take you up on that. I'm not going to be in the mood for dealing with people tonight."

"I didn't think so, better for everyone if you just head on home for the night. I'll tell Dad that you were sick or something, don't worry about it." Terry set the crate of liquor down on the counter and started to stock the shelves herself.

Mika took the hint and moved out from behind the bar and headed out the door. Crisp night air greeted her as she left the building. The sun had just gone down for the day and night was fully settling over Destiny Islands. Stars started to shine in the night sky, their faint light no longer hidden by the bright sun. Mika looked up and stared at the stars, she just couldn't believe that each star up in the night sky was another world separated from the others by Darkness. How many worlds were out there completely oblivious to how many times they had been in danger? Oblivious to how a group of teenagers had repeatedly saved them from plunging into Darkness. What would it be like to live on one of those worlds not knowing everything hung on the shoulders of a select few? Ignorance is bliss they say, but was it truly bliss? Mika pondered the answer as she started walking back home, down the streets as lights clicked on illuminating the sidewalk before the dark of night was able to hide them.

A few minutes of walking and Mika found herself standing at the docks where a few little boats floated in the water. Hopping into one of the small boats Mika rowed out to the island where their little group seemed to spend a lot of their free time. When she reached the small island she noticed another boat was tethered to the dock. While she knew that each boat belonged to a certain person Mika couldn't tell one from the other, she didn't even know whose boat she had taken. Taking a look over the island and not seeing any movement other than the palm trees moving in the wind, Mika headed up to the tree house. She didn't bother climbing the ladder and instead leapt straight up to the entrance. Walking into the little shack Mika sat cross legged in the corner and looked out the door. She had taken to using the tree house as a spot to think. It was nice and quiet, the leaves swaying in the wind brushing up against the wood made a soft soothing melody.

Extending her right hand straight out Mika called her staff into existence. With a bright light the weapon appeared in her hand ready to take on whatever enemy its master wanted. Mika looked her weapon up and down. It had been a normal staff once, nothing more than a long metal stick really. Once Clestia fell to the Heartless and Mika had landed in The Valley of the Lost, she had spent months enchanting the weapon with every spell she could think of. When the members of the Celestial Warriors started to appear Mika had started to learn new spells from them and strengthened her staff accordingly. After Eclipse came and gave everyone a purpose and having them turn to using Darkness, Mika had added the very power she now fought against to her staff. Deep inside the metal weapon, at the heart of the enchantments, was a thick layer of Darkness. Now Mika wanted the Darkness out of her weapon and spent nights trying to rework the spells on the weapon so that they no longer relied on the Darkness to bind them to the metal. It was a slow process and one that took a great deal of concentration, which is exactly what Mika wanted at the moment.

Telling Luna about the death of her parents and how she had abandoned her brother had left Mika to dwell on how badly she had treated Sol back then. That one action brought up other painful memories that seemed to cascade out of control the longer she let her mind wander. Rather than let her mind work against her Mika decided to put it to use and attempt to cleanse her weapon and hopefully cleanse her own mind of the dark thoughts that were trying to overtake her normally happy outlook on life. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes Mika mentally dove into the layers of magic that hugged the metal staff and latched onto one of the complex spells, following it down to the source of Darkness. When she found the Darkness at the center Mika felt like she was standing at the edge of a whirlpool of energy that threatened to suck her under if she wasn't careful. If someone was to walk into the tree house they would find Mika shrouded in black energy as she touched the Darkness. Following the spell into the whirlpool of dark energy Mika tried to find where the magic became twisted by the Darkness. It was like looking at a mile's worth of white string searching for a speck of black the size of a needlepoint. As if that wasn't enough add in a huge gust of wind from time to time that threatened to rip the string away from you and carry it away.

Hours passed by as Mika sat there looking for the black dot on the white string. To her it felt like barely a minute had passed, her mind completely devoted to the task at hand allowing nothing to distract her. So engrossed in what she doing she never heard the sounds of footsteps walking across the wooden walkway that lead to the tree house entrance. It wasn't until the person stood in front of Mika and waved their hand in front of her face did Mika break out of her trance, unsuccessful in breaking the hold the Darkness had on the enchantment. Opening her eyes Mika came face to face with Riku, his aquamarine eyes staring right at her.

"What are you doing here Riku?" Mika question as she uncrossed her legs stretching them out creating a loud popping noise in the quiet night.

"Same thing you're doing. Trying to rid myself of the Darkness," Riku answered.

"It ain't easy is it," Mika more stated rather than asked.

"No," Riku agreed. "I know that I won't be able to fully be rid of it like Kairi is. That doesn't mean I can't get rid of the taint using it has left."

"Remember how we thought Naminé cleansed us of that taint?" Mika scoffed at her own naivety. To believe that someone else could get rid of the taint she had let into herself was foolish to the extreme. No one could get rid of the Darkness in another; they could only give you the tools with which to do it yourself. "There's no doubt that it's weaker, but we still have it. Damn thing's just sitting there in the back of our minds waiting for us to fall again."

"We'll just have to figure out a way to best it," Riku said with fake confidence. Mika admired the guy for being able to put on a fake smile at least. She may have been using the powers of Darkness for a longer time than Riku, but he had dived deeper into than she had.

"Got a watch on you?" Mika knew that if she came home too late she'd hear it from Sol in the morning. He really had gone overboard with the protective spells he laced onto the house. Sol had basically installed a magic version of a home security system that was "wired" to him. If Mika didn't cast the right series of spells before entering the house then she'd have to deal with the people in the house waking up and trying to attack her. It'd happened once already and it wasn't an incident Mika wanted to repeat. With the spell connected to Sol though he knew exactly when someone entered or left the house even if they passed the security spell. Mika really didn't want to explain where she'd been if she got home too late.

"It's around midnight," Riku answered without looking at anything to tell the time.

"You know that by instinct?" Mika wondered aloud.

"I checked the time before I came up here and it was ten till," Riku explained.

"Ah. Got two hours before I'm supposed to be home. Maybe I'll go for a midnight swim or something before heading back." Mika stood up and stretched out her muscles. Sitting in one position for three hours or so made even her sore. Without a flash of light or any give away Mika's pants and shirt turned into a bikini with shorts, her shoes changed into a pair of sandals.

"It's going to be cold," Riku warned her. Even in a tropical climate the water got nice and cold enough at night that most sane people stayed out of it.

"You really think a little cold water is going to stop me from enjoying a night swim? You still got a few things to learn about crazy people Silver"

"My name's not Silver!" Mika laughed as she walked by Riku and headed down the walkway. The only reason she called him that was because he always protested to being called it. This time she'd done it to get his mind off their conversation about Darkness. Since she didn't feel like jumping down to the ground below and chance landing wrong, she used the ladder to get down safely. Ditching her sandals once she reached the sand Mika charged into the ocean and let the cold water rush over her.

"OH GODS THAT'S COLD!" She shouted as she popped up from underneath water her whole body shivering.

"I told you," Riku said smugly from the edge of the shore. His shoes were getting wet but the rest of him was nice and dry. Mika grinned as she noticed that Riku wasn't going to be coming in any farther. If he was going to act high and mighty standing dry and warm on the shore than Mika was just going to have to do something about it. Rotating her wrist underneath the water Mika gathered up a nice amount of freezing cold salt water.

"I told you, you have a lot to learn about crazy people!" Mika shouted as she tossed the ball of water directly at Riku. The force of the assault knocked Riku onto his ass causing Mika to lean back and laugh at him. She unbalanced herself enough by leaning back that when the next wave came she got swept back under the water. Again Mika shot up out from the water cursing the cold only to have Riku laugh at her now. "Oh big mistake Silver!" She wasn't going to let him get away with laughing at her if she could help it, and boy could she help it. Hardening the sand underneath Riku's feet and turning it into a solid platform Mika lifted the platform with such speed that it flung Riku out into the ocean a good distance out. Riku's head popped up from under the waves his long hair stuck to his face covering his eyes completely. He was quickly swimming back to the shore as Mika walked back onto the beach laughing at the soaked Keybearer.

"That was uncalled for," Riku huffed as he got back to land.

"I think it was perfect," Mika chuckled, "but I'll be nice and give you a quick dry." With a flick of her wrist Mika sent a wave of heat towards Riku, instantly drying him. The sudden change between wet and dry caused Riku's long hair to frizz and poof out giving him quite the new style. It was too much for Mika to stand. She clasped her sides as she laughed at the look she had accidentally given Riku. "Oh gods... thank you Riku. Seeing that is exactly what I needed right now." Mika was brushing away tears as she spoke trying to regain some composure.

"Next time you need a laugh fling Sora into the ocean," Riku grumbled.

"He'd enjoy it too much," Mika pointed out. The brunette teen really was an oddball and probably _would_ enjoy being catapulted into the ocean. In fact after finding out that Mika had done it to Riku he'd probably beg to have it done to him.

"That's true," Riku conceded.

"Well that wasted about ten minutes. Guess I'll just tell Sol I got off early and head home." Mika once again change her clothes with magic before she headed over to the dock. Riku was right behind her attempting to fix his hair. Mika snickered at the mess and even though it would be an easy fix, she left Riku's hair alone.

When Mika got home she passed through the security spell with no problems. The house was completely silent and not a single light was on. Using the minimal light that the stars and moon provided Mika made her way to the stairs and up to her bedroom. She entered her room and flicked on the light so she could actually see her bed. Mika didn't keep very much in her room, just a few CDs, records, and cassette tapes along with the machines needed to play them. In fact aside from the shelves that held the items there was only her bed and a painting that hung up on the wall across from the bed. The painting was one that Mika had taken a liking to and often spent a few minutes in the morning staring at it. It displayed a fully armored knight in polished steel armor with sword and shield in hand standing next to a dragon. The dragon was a light blue color and you could see each and every scale reflect the sunlight. Both knight and dragon stood on a hill overlooking a peaceful valley with flowers in the most brilliant shades of purple, orange, and yellow lining the hills. Crawling out of the valley were black creatures with yellow eyes and antennas, Shadow Heartless plagued the valley the knight and dragon guarded. It was the same painting that Rin had needed the flowers for, the flowers that had cause Mika's path to cross with Rin's. When Rin had finished the painting she had given it to Mika saying that it was hers as thanks for helping her out so often. Mika had always wondered why Rin said it was her's when they were already living together as a married couple. When the Heartless invaded Clestia, something in the back of Mika's mind had compelled her to shrink the painting down and keep it with her. Now it was the one thing Mika had left of her wife. Crawling into bed Mika sent a wave of wind to flick the light switch plunging the room into darkness. With thoughts of Rin in her mind as she slept Mika dreamt of a happier time that night.


	5. Chapter 5

A Day in the Life of Shin

The sunset in the horizon beckoned the young man running in the snowy fields of the mountains ahead. He had no time to look around as he crossed the blanket of white snow, a small trail of crimson drops following him as drops of water falling from the slopes, crystal tears for many, it was a sign the summer was coming. And that was exactly why he had come here.

They love summer the most. All the small animals come out to play at summer. Hence why they are seldom spotted on the Snowy Mountains. You must be asking yourself what I mean by "they", are you not?

Well, ask yourself no more, because our small hunter finally found himself a nice hiding place near a ledge. He crouched, cringing and groaning as the blood flow from his stomach increased. He removed his chestplate, wincing as he saw the piercing wound made to his stomach. Grabbing a green flask from his backpack and a bit of yellow substance, he mumbled:

"Some honey into the potion and… Mega Potion it is." As he did so, he mixed the honey into the green liquid, which seemed to almost shine at the mixture. Without hesitation he poured half of it on the wound and downed the rest. The wound seemed to smolder for a second before having its blood flow interrupted, the skin scarring at an extreme pace. The boy in his late teens nodded his head at this, returning his now pierced chestplate back on and standing up.

He was wearing a very thorough and protective suit of armor. Contrary to many though, it was not made out of any league of metal, instead it was made out of layers over layers of scale plates. It seemed divided into five pieces that complimented each other perfectly. The chestplate, the gauntlets, the tasset, the legguards and the helm. The ends of the shoulders, gauntlets and tasset were extremely spiky and the helm that covered everything but the face sported two ear-like jagged extensions coming from the side. It was all tied by either metal or what seemed to be extra-resistant rope. All of the armor followed the dark violet color, except for the lesser armored areas, which were a very dark green.

"One down, and the other was limping… if I just can catch it sleeping, I may be on the clear," The teen told himself. Nothing about his body could be said other than his brown eyes and slightly above average height, standing at about 1,84 meters as the rest was covered in his armor. He was surprised when a horn rang through the vast mountain-side, prompting him to break into a dash. "Damn! Ten minutes left!" he cursed as he entered a nearby cave, the lighting being provided by several breaches on the ceiling. He was nervous. Who wouldn't be in his situation? Ten minutes. He had ten minutes to make all he worked for in the last three years to a test. This was the opportunity of a lifetime for him. The contract he had accepted only came around once a season at best, and many ravenous takers existed. Only by sheer luck and influence was he able to take one. He had to prove himself!

He arrived quickly at his destination. He stood on the center of the cave, in a ledge overlooking the larger area below, fully illuminated. He was, however, confused.

"Where is it?! Tigrex sleep on that spot below!" he cursed, knowing that time was running out. That was almost his demise, as if he had screamed for a moment more, he wouldn't have heard the rumbling of rocks. Seeing a yellow flash coming in his direction, he threw caution to the wind and jumped off the ledge, landing roughly on the ground. He swore he heard one or more cracks, and it wasn't on his armor. He looked upwards and saw the guilty party.

It walked on all fours, the front limbs long and muscled with wings attached spreading out from the sides. The chest was thin and muscled, also skinny, it had no scales, its head made to kill, gigantic jaw with a blue scaled head that connected to the main body by a massive, muscled and long neck made for snapping those razor sharp teeth around. Its tail, yellow with brown and blue scale just like the top portion of its body could crush rocks and steel. Those eyes… blood red and craving for more blood to be spilled.

"Clever girl…" the teen admitted, knowing that that female had outsmarted him. Probably had been hunted by various hunters already, knowing their patterns. It then roared and jumped from the ledge. The teen reacted by reaching for his back, gathering strength as he held the handle of his massive blue blade. The sword seemed to be covered with small blue scales, starting very dark blue and becoming much lighter as they reached the tip. Its handle was nothing more than more of those scales wrapped up in treated leather, and the sword's form was erratic. Near the handle, the blade bore spikes to the side, bright orange in color, but as it approached the tip, the spikes started to vanish as the sword began to thin. Near the tip it divided in two for some reason. The size? As big as the teen, hence the power needed to swing it.

However, his timing was perfect. He began to swing as the Tigrex was halfway through the jump, the blade cutting the air, crackling as it did, the middle of it finding its target right into the skull of the beast, exploding in thunder. It cried in agony, its limbs spastically moving to get away from the hunter, roiling ten meters away from it before crying even more.

"Don't like lightning do ya? Then the Lagia Wildfire here won't be gentle." He gloated, but not for long, as the horn sounded again. "Shit! Five minutes!" He knew he had to go on the offensive now, even if the Tigrex was something that usually made you play to its weakness and wait for its reckless behavior to leave an opening. But he had no time for that. He ran straight towards the now scarred female, which retorted by roaring in a deafening power and frequency… that did nothing to him. "Thank you Garuga armor! These earplugs do come in handy!" he exclaimed, swinging his sword in an arc against the brute-wyvern's chest. It flinched, leading his confidence to rocketed sky-high. He did something that he would soon regret, he followed with a slow but powerful downward slash. The predator was having none of it as it swung its claw just before the blade impacted, knocking him breathless and sending him rolling back, weaponless.

"Damn. I screwed up!" he cursed, going back to his knees. However, when he turned, he saw it. It was too late. The beast was already mid-jump, maw opening wildly, eyes gleaming in murderous intent, and he had no time to dodge. "Not like this…" he pleaded. His prayers were answered. Suddenly, a silver flash crossed his vision, a metallic silver claw hitting the neck of the Tigrex and pinning it to the ground. Not thinking about it twice, the hunter ran to his sword as the thing was defenseless, grabbed onto it and with one mighty swing decapitated the quarry, two minutes away from the fifty-minute time-limit. Never had the horn of victory tasted so good. The silver creature then left the body of the Tigrex, giving him time for his allotted three carves from its body after taking a claw, some scales that formed a carapace and a supremely rare pristine Skull-Shell, did the teen turn to his savior.

"Caelum! I told you not to interfere!" He was standing toe to toe, eye to eye with none other than his pet. Said "pet" however, was no dog, no cat. No. It was a wyvern. And not just any Wyvern. The King of the Skies. The Silver Sun. Silver Rathalos. A fully grown one at that. It had two paws and its upper limbs were wings. The shell of scales the monster had was razor sharp, spikes pronounced in most of its complexion. Its scales and wings colored by a metallic silver that gleamed with the light of the sun, flame markings in black on its wings. Its tail as long as its body, leading up to a dark gray spike brimming with poison. Its claws, which even now were dripping with the foul liquid. All of it commanded respect. It was just a natural impulse. When you looked at the wyvern, with the crown-like crest, neck striking upwards while it looked down on its surrounding, you felt like kneeling. And its cerulean eyes were fixated on his brown ones, as if evaluating them. The moment was tense, it would seem for any outsiders that they were in fact, readying themselves for mortal… "kombat".

Wrong.

"But I'm glad you did Cae!" the teen exclaimed, rushing up to his companion of ten years and grabbing it's snout happily, rubbing it's scales as it closes its eyes, a now rare, but still caring cooing filling the air as master and pet shared a moment of care. Interrupted by the second horn of victory, the one that signaled them to go back to base camp and pack up, erupted into the cave, its echo leaving the man with an even greater feeling of fulfillment. "Let's go buddy! Tonight, its Qurupeco meat for you!" He exclaimed, the wyvern roaring in satisfaction before taking flight. "We'll meet up in the forest as I walk back! Now go, and don't let any of those snobs see ya!" with a roar of agreement, the wyvern flew away, leaving its brother in everything but blood and species behind.

The man took one final look at the remnants of the Tigrex and sighed, leaving saying: "It had to be done. Now to wash this foul taste off my mouth… "He took a courteous bow at the fallen creature and left it behind, knowing the Felynes to be near to get the rest back to HQ.

A few minutes and a very big amount of climbing down vines and mountain passes later, the teen arrived at the base camp. A group of Felynes was already hard at work with putting everything Guild-related into a cart. The teen started helping the cats pack, even after:

"We Felynes are here to assist you Hunter-dono. There is no need for you to help us after such a great effort… nyan," They had to add nyan somewhere. Still, he did his best to help them, since, contrary to some hunters, he didn't bring along many personal belongings. To be exact, he only brought along his armor, weapon, utensils and finally, a framed picture.

In the perfectly cared for picture, there were three figures standing in front of what was a town covered in a brimming white blanket. Two of them were children, a boy and a girl, neither a day over five. The boy a more protective clothing, mostly made out of wool and white fur, matching gloves, boots and jacket, from its hood a small amount of brown hair escaping. Small brown eyes shyly looked to the side and not to the picture being taken, a coy smile on his lips.

Their gaze met up with the equally, or more, shy violet eyes of the girl. Said girl had her golden locks crudely tied into a ponytail by a floral-patterned red and pink ribbon that was clearly meant for an adult… but she didn't seem to mind at all. What would surprise a normal person was how little she was wearing, given the climate. Nothing more than a small, red dress that reached her knees, flowers drawn in various colors as it went down. Beige sandals protected her feet, but still, much of her pale skin was showing.

What both of them shared though was that they were holding one of the hands of a large, life-sized, Moogle-plushie that stood in the middle of them.

Behind them though, was a much taller adult woman. Quite the looker too if I may add. Her skin was pale and her hair deep pink. The hairline barely passed her ears, that, even then, were visible as elf-like ones. Her dressing code was much less… refined and mystical. She was wearing Hawaiian shorts, beach sandals, and a shirt. Did I mention how she had sunglasses on, only lowering them with one hand to seductively start at the camera? Oh, and her white shirt was inscribed with litters… that changed every day. Both in the real world AND the picture. Magic, don't question it. Right now they were "I *heart* Na-"the rest being covered by her other arm. The teen's mind still remembered how once it said "I'm sexy and you know it.", which was, technically, true if this humble narrator may have a voice in it.

"Just a couple more weeks…" the hunter said, shaking his head and storing the picture in his pockets before leaving with the van of Felynes. After some time, he told the Felynes to keep going without him, the cat-like humanoids nodding and trailing off. Minutes later, he looked up to the skies and called out:

"CAELUM!" he heard a rustling of trees, followed by flapping wings and, without even looking back, he jumped, landing on the back of the wyvern as it took flight above the forest and into the wide blue yonder. Poke, his village, was at about three hours of walking distance… but flying? Thirty minutes at worst. As he flew, he took in the view. The serenity the world hid its chaos. Yet nature WAS chaos… and order too. Some told him he thought too much for a hunter, but he didn't care. Someday, he'd find the middle-ground… but not today. For today, it was party time!

"Cae, just be careful not to be spotted. We don't know how those old Wyverian crones would react if they knew the son of the Hero of Poke had a Silver Rathalos for a pet!" he told his _brother_. He nodded, perfectly understanding what he meant. Silver Rathalos were said to rival humans in sheer IQ, which was not as surprising when you knew that the Fatalis was thought to be far superior to a human in mind. However, the Hunter's Council wasn't the most… proactive towards change. They were a bunch of old coots. Never wanted change… He shook it off for the time being, awaiting for their arrival at Poke.

Soon afterwards, it could be seen at the distance. The mountain city of Poke. Contrary to what you may think, it was not localized in the grandest of locations, nor was it the most imposing city in the world. No, that was Minegarde Capital or Dondruma Town. Poke had been a village for many years, but the reputation it had gained with his hunter had severely increased the population and scale. Whereas ten years ago it was merely an establishment of fifty people, it now bordered the one thousand, which, in this world, was quite the accomplishment.

From the distance, you could see the now five-sectioned village. The residential estate, which usually was a simple aggregation of various cottages, home to nothing but the houses for people to live in. The plaza, where all the commerce was taken care off, the very center being adorned by an onyx statue of a hunter standing atop an Akantor's corpse, serving as a tribute to their hero. The school area, which housed both the Scholar's school and the Hunter's training grounds as well as the library. The farm area, now a gigantic extension of mining areas, plantations, bug-houses and small boats everywhere. And finally, the Hunter's District. This one had changed the least… usually. It was a steep ramp with all a hunter needed in a limited space. At the very top the armor and weapons shop and the blacksmith, descending towards the item's vendor, which lead to the village's chief and the rare-item trader… at the very end of the ramp though, was the massive, oaken Guild Hall, where the Guild fixated all of the requests. Truth be told, the only difference was the house at the top.

It wasn't a wrecked cottage anymore where only the hunter of the village lived, as they had offered his father a mansion. He had declined immediately… but his mother? Oh, she wouldn't EVER do that. Case in point, there was a giant mansion right… in the sky?

"Why is our house floating? Mom… what idea crossed that crazy brain this time?!" he groaned, slamming his head on the back of the wyvern, who himself seemed exasperated at the antics of his human progenitor.

They landed a safe distance from the village and the teen walked into the entrance to the village, more specifically the one of the Guild Hall. As he entered it, he found himself in the midst of what had already turned into a drunken party for the older hunters inside it. The teen smiled, amused at how predictable they were at this. One chance at a party and they wouldn't even care for the reason.

"Hey! The kid's here!" One of the less drunk hunters cried, slamming his mug on the table, the Guild Hall-turned-bar stopping their wise-cracking at each other to instead wisecracking him instead, but of course, it was all in good spirits, their way to congratulate him.

He walked over to the counter, where a semi-intoxicated Guild Maiden awaited him, a mug in her hand. She smiled at him and pulled a paper that said nothing but "Urgent Quest: The Land of Tremors", took out a giant stamp and slammed it on it, the seal "Completed" now engraved onto it.

"Your card Junior!" she joked, extending her hand while she called the teen the nickname she had given him out of no real reason.

"If I had the exact same name as my dad you could call me that… but I'm done reasoning with you, ya old hag." Now, this woman wasn't old by any means… but he wasn't called Junior so it balances out. With a giant pout, she took his card shinning blue card and interchanged it with a card much like it, just pure gold.

"I'm only twenty-nine!" She pouted when she handed him the card, her smile returning. "Still, congrats Shin! Gold card will be with ya until you get to G-rank 2, then you get Narga Black, but I guess you're aiming for Platinum White, aren't you?" _Shin_ nodded, smiling as he took his card back. Only two colors away from his dad. "The day you are able to take down stuff like the Ukanlos is the day I get married though." The Guild Clerk told him, poking her tongue out.

"Then I guess I'll never get it…" he taunted for the last time before turning his back on the older woman.

"Why you…!" She cried, locking on to an unfortunate hunter passing by. "YOU! You're gonna pay me a round or five!"

When he walked out the wooden double doors, he saw exactly what he imagined. Remember when we said "usually" during the description? Yeah, this was because the town was almost literally turned upside down. But let's not jinx it. It may just happen.

Everywhere you looked you saw things that you'd never see on a normal day. There were Rathalos, Lagiacrus and other assorted famous monsters piñatas being hit on by kids to drop sweets… also, they respawned. After broken, they'd just fix themselves and contained MORE sweets. Magic. Balloons were tied to practically every place imaginable, houses, signs… people. Speaking of signs, there were a lot of them. Mostly simple "Congratulations, Shin" signs, with some obviously Mom-induced "1337 ski11z s0n" he just wondered where she was.

"What do you mean you don't want to dress as a Rathian?!" Speaking of the devil. On the distance he saw the same woman we saw in the picture, just with a different, more… extravagant attire. She was wearing a mostly light-red carapace-imitating costume that covered most of her body in a uniform way, exceptions being the two small antennas rising from her head and two giant-pincers that covered her hands. To round it all up, she had the shell that resembled the skull of a Monoblos tied around her waist, covering her entire back. Still, you could see that her hair had grown in an exponential way ever since her photo, now reaching well over her waist.

She was with a kid that wouldn't be a day past twelve. He possessed bright red haired and shared the eye-color. He was wearing a costume also, this one hid his head like it was inside the maw of a pink female wyvern, wings much like a Rathalos sprouting from his back and a tail escaping the back of his waist. He wore claw-like footwear instead of shoes.

"Because it's a girl! I should be wearing cool stuff! Like I dunno, a freaking Teostra costume! Kaiser means Emperor! He's the Emperor of Flames!" the kid whined, waving his hands in a futile attempt to reach his mother, who held him back with a simple push from one of the pincers.

"Boy, you're ten years too early to dress as a Teostra." She scolded, hitting him on the upside of the head so hard he ate dirt. Sighing, Shin made his way to his mother, who noticed him halfway through.

"Shiny! My tumbling-pumpkin-dumpling!" that didn't even make sense! She ran to him, arms wide open shouting: "Come here sweet darling!"

"No! Mom! NOT THE PINCERS!" Shin exclaimed as she slammed her pincers into both sides of her torso. Yes, it did hurt. Quite a bit. They were made out of real carapace after all. He shouted in agony, causing his mom to jump back as she realized what she was doing. She scratched the back of her head with one of the pincers and tried her best to apologize.

"Sorry! Forgive Merly-whirly!" She exclaimed, putting her tongue just slightly out. Now, you must be asking yourself. "Is she already drunk?" The answer is… no. No she wasn't. But even with her normal over-the-top craziness being the status quo, this was on a whole different level.

"Mom… why are you wearing a Daimyo Hermitaur costume?" Shin asked, caressing his sore sides. If he hadn't had the armor on, she might've just stabbed through them. Not that she seemed aware, or at least that she cared for it, as she was as bubbly as ever.

"The better question is... why aren't YOU dressed like a Daimyo! They are giant ENEMY CRABS that shoot WATER LAZERS!" She exclaimed, making a big fuss about it by waving her arms like a madwoman. Of course, that wasn't what he meant.

"What I mean mom… is where did that costume come from and why is everyone in the village dressed like a monster?!" he exclaimed, pointing to his surroundings, as every single villager was wearing some costume or another of the same kind. The woman's mouth formed an "o" and she nodded spastically.

"Oh, that?! I just summoned a costume for everyone! The day of the Wyvern in Minegarde was so awesome, I thought we could replicate it for your party!" She said excitedly, at the same time, she made three sticks of cotton candy fly away from one of the stalls nearby, some money flying back to the owner and one of her pincers disappeared as to grab one of them. The other two went to him and the kid.

"Mom! Dad told you to keep magic to a minimum! This world doesn't have magic! What about the world order? If you keep it up, soon the newspapers will be all like: "Merlina Magus Verus is from another world!"" The way she looked at him, completely uncaring and bored was enough to make him realize he was talking to a wall.

"Aw, shush and be happy! You're the youngest Hunter Rank 6 hunter ever! We need to let ourselves go for tonight! Even you Kaiser!" Merlina told her kids, much to Shin's annoyance and Kaiser's rage.

"Give me a decent costume and I will!" he cried, but Merlina was already pulling Shin by the arm.

"Let's get you home! You need a bath and a costume!" Shin knew he wasn't about to convince his mother otherwise, so he put no resistance. As they went, he spotted a strange balloon though… he had never seen a monster with a bobbly black head that was out of proportion with its entire body, small claws, two antennae and large, round yellow eyes.

"Uuuh, mom, what's that?" He asked, pointing at the balloon. Merlina looked at it and in the most completely nonchalant tone, she said:

"Oh that? It's just the foulest creature in all the worlds. The Heartless. It feeds on people's hearts and leads worlds to the Realm of Darkness." She just kept walking as she said it, leaving Shin behind, who was shocked beyond belief.

"And you made a balloon out of it for a festival?! WHY?!" Shin yelled, suddenly feeling his body lighten, followed by a "floaty feel". Yeah, she was levitating him to make him follow her faster.

"Because they are soooooo cute! It doesn't matter if they are sick, twisted, beings from the nether realm or just critters. Cute is cute." She was serious about this. Shin could tell.

Before long, they had arrived at where the house SHOULD be. It was now floating around twenty meters above the ground. Merlina shrugged and froze the water on the very air around them to create a stairway for her to climb, Shin and Kaiser floating against their will around her, as if they were satellites around a planet.

They finally made their way into the giant entrance hall, Merlina dropping them to the floor unceremoniously.

"Well, we're here! Now Shin, my love, my dove, my cub. Would you be a darling and take a shower?" she told the teen, covering her nose and shooing him. He knew he smelled horribly of sweat, blood and stuff he'd rather not know about, but there was a giant elephant in the room… not literally though. Not yet.

"I will, but first… mom, why is the house floating?" he finally asked, Merlina clapping her hands in glee.

"Thought you'd never ask! You see, before you were born I visited a world named Zeal! Since it was completely floaty, I told myself "I wanna live like that someday!" It took me a while to develop a spell that lasted even after I stopped applying energy to it, but now it's done! Now our house floats in the sky!" Shin should be surprised, shocked, flabbergasted. Instead, he just sighed. Another one of her nonsensical whims… "Met a real nice guy there also… Chroni? Cruno? Clono? I don't remember, but he was taken so it doesn't really matter."

"Look, Mom, this is cool and all… but hardly practical. Can you please put us back down?" Shin asked as carefully as he could, not wanting to hurt her feelings.

"B-but look at the view you can get!" she exclaimed, snapping her fingers. Suddenly, Shin and his brother hit the ground face first as the house was suddenly catapulted upwards by an unknown force. After a roughly thirty seconds, it stopped and Merlina opened the door.

"I can barely see Poke!" Kaiser shouted as he looked out of it, legs trembling. She had just put them easily a kilometer above the town… still, the view of the mountain-chain extending in the distance, piercing the clouds as it went and the cloud-free view of the night sky was truly amazing, he had to give it that.

"Mother… the view IS amazing, but not only is this dangerous, but it makes it so we don't have a way out of the house. Please, just set us down. We'll let you put us back up later." Shin told her, trying to talk some common sense into his mother. She puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms, pouting and shaking her head.

"Alright… but we're doing this my way!" Before they could even ask what that meant, they were already glued to the ceiling, the house plummeting downwards at imaginable velocity. Kaiser shouted of terror, Merlina squealed and Shin prayed to anything that could help him right now. After just a few seconds of sheer terror, there was a giant crash, which lead them to once again fall head-first into the ground. Shin and Kaiser groaned in pain as they started to get up, but Merlina wasn't like that at all. No… she stayed down.

"Mom?" Shin called, walking up to her, worried about her fragile psyche. Her body began to convulse, much like she was crying except… it was the exact opposite.

"THAT. WAS. AWESOOOOME!" Merlina shouted, floating to her feet. "We totally have to do this a LOT more!" she was completely out of control, prancing around the room excitedly with stars for eyes.

"Just… give the villagers a warning next time, will you Mer?" A new voice said from the door, the voice of a man. The man at the door was also dressed in a costume, the maw of a black pseudo-wyvern used as a hat, two long tusks exiting at the jaw bone, a black, gigantic tail and black spikes extending from his back. Still, you could see his dirty blonde hair and, of course, his distinguishing brown reptilian eyes.

"REXIEEEEEEEEE!" Merlina shouted, tackling the man, who easily took her weight and returned the hug. "I haven't seen you in forever hubby!"

"I left yesterday…" He replied, but Merlina didn't answer. She was really… special.

"Dad!" both of his sons called as they approached their old man.

"I thought you had stuff to do in the Guild HQ," Shin told Rex, who smiled back.

"Oh, who the hell do you think I am? I'm the Guild Master Rex Verus. Do you really think anyone in the Guild would stop me from coming to son's Hunter Rank 6 celebration? Not one person raised his voice when I told them I was coming." Rex told his son, taking off his helm with one hand and ruffling his hair with the other, a giant, proud smile ripping his cheeks. "Congratulations son… I'm proud of you. We all are. You're not even at an adult age and yet… here you are…"

Now, you may not know, but Shin is normally someone that is level-headed… but he had the biggest grin on his face right now. His dad was his idol, and he had just come all the way from the capital early just to tell him how proud he was… he couldn't help but hug his old man out of joy. Even Rex was surprised by it. Shin wasn't one to just throw affection at you… unless you were a certain someone else.

"Well then, go and bathe. We have a party to attend to!" he exclaimed, pushing Shin away, who nodded and rushed to the bathroom, leaving the family behind.

"Mer… just one thing. Next time, don't make me magically have the costume on when you want to. It was an… awkward meeting this morning." He told his wife, the only response being a coy smile. "Oh, you planned this, didn't you?!"

"Maaaaaaaybe." She teased.

"You're impossible…" his attention though, was not on her now. It was on Shin. "Kai, go get Shin's armor and put it in the repair box for us to return to the smith." He told Kaiser, who had no objections. He adored armors and how they felt under his fingers. As soon as he was of, Rex turned to Merlina, who asked:

"I won this bet, didn't I?" She had a more serious, but still playful smile, to contrast with Rex's thoughtful expression.

"You did, I guess I owe you another kid." He said, rolling his eyes as Merlina licked her lips.

"That you do…" she teased yet again, but this time more… you know.

"Still, I'm shocked. I was, what? Twenty-three when I got his promotion? If he keeps up like this, he'll have me beat before he's twenty. Me. Arguably the best hunter bar none. Impartially speaking even." Merlina nodded as they went into deep thinking. "You sure he'll be alright?"

"I can't know for sure, but he seems to be holding up perfectly," The woman replied, serious for the first time.

"I'll trust you to keep a really big eye over him. I can't help with what his problem is…" Rex told his wife, who nodded at it.

"But you can help. You did just now." She told him, giving him a comforting smile. "Be his dad. That's all he needs. To be someone." Rex smiled solemnly before nodding. "Alright! Now onto other news! How was the capital?" Rex walked to a nearby couch and sat down, staring at the ceiling.

"Well, Oihane told me she's looking to throw in the towel," Rex explained, Merlina sitting next to him.

"She did take Vaughn's death really harshly, didn't she?" She asked, Rex nodding.

"Really, I'm surprised it took this long. I thought she was simply gonna become a stay-at-home wife after Eilert proposed to her. Not many hunters reach thirty-nine, so she's having no problems…" he let out a large deep breath and his head sunk.

"You're not worried about that, are you? It just brought Vaughn's death right back into my mind," he confided, his wife taking her hands into his cheeks and making him look into her ocean-blue eyes.

"Don't go there Rex. It's done, there's nothing you can do now," Rex knew that to be true, but still, his heart was heavy… at least until Shin erupted into the entrance hall, indignated:

"Why is the only thing I had left to wear a freaking Silver Rathalos costume?!" He yelled, Merlina giggling.

"Oi, oi… you didn't think you were gonna get away from it scot-free just because you're the one that we're throwing this party for, did you?" Merlina asked, his face said that he did. While Shin didn't exactly want to go with the whole costume, he did love his mom and she had gone through a lot of trouble to stage this massive fiesta, so… he went with it.

And with that, the family indulged itself on a night of party, dancing, eating, drinking for some, and the overall joy (and worry) of seeing a drunk already crazy Merlina babble on about stuff that the world shouldn't know about.

There was, however, one situation that diverted from this rule. As Shin wandered around in the party, looking for some of his childhood friends, sure that Charles was already intoxicated and Max would have to be carrying him, he found a very… interesting duo.

They looked like sisters, both sharing wavy blonde hair and violet eyes. Heck. Twins. And they were bombshells. Just about a few centimeters over 1.70, they were… well endowed, curvaceous and enough to drive anyone crazy. And they both seemed to be staring right at him. What was weird was that they were the only ones not wearing costumes, wearing instead kimonos and… red, floral ribbons. They reminded him of… her. Way too much.

"Why, aren't you the hunter that this fuss is all about?" One of the duo questioned.

"You… I knew you! All those years back!" the other gasped in surprise, covering her mouth. She didn't talk like that…

"You know him sis? Well now… I guess we can, entertain him…" She had no sister… especially not a twin. Shin couldn't take it anymore. As soon as the woman tried to even touch him, he slapped her hand away and walked called:

"Mother! I know you're out there!" he shouted, his mother appearing suddenly to his side with a disappointed look, the girls vanishing into thin air.

"I knew I should've kept to just one clone!" She exclaimed, stomping the ground in frustration. She didn't seem to realize just how deeply she had affected her son.

"What made you think it'd be alright to do that?!" He suddenly shouted, fury brimming in his tone, eyes seething into Merlina's confused gaze. "What makes you think that playing with my feelings was acceptable?!"

"I… I wasn't. I wanted to make you happy…" She replied, taking two steps back, her mind not understanding what she had done wrong.

"Make me… happy? For what?! A second? Do you realize how betrayed I felt the moment I realized those were illusions?! How my hopes got dashed as fast as they were created?! Even worse, they didn't even act like her! Do you think I want her body?! Is that it?!" He shouted, the frustrations of thirteen years all pouring out uncontrollably. Was he overreacting? Why of course, but let's face it… he's not telling a lie. Thing is, when all was said and done, after he took a deep breath, sweating from every pore in his head, he looked back into his mother's face. There were tears streaming done.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… I'm a horrible mother!" she cried, getting the attention of everyone around her… anyone who hadn't already turned at least. "I try… I try… but I just… my head. I just can't do anything right!" she fell down to her knees and covered her cheeks with her palms, some of the villagers running down the ramp to go get Rex. But there was someone else there that could stop it. And that same person kneeled, pulling his mother into a hug.

"I know you try mom… I'm sorry for overreacting. I still love you, just don't do this again, alright?" he told her as kindly as he could. He knew all about his mother's problems, but sometimes, she was a little too much to bear. When she returned the hug (quite painfully may I add… pincers, remember?) she seemed to have stopped sobbing, instead, she whispered him something the villagers could not hear.

"I'll take you there… the moment you turn nineteen. I knew I wouldn't be able to stop you anyway, so this won't change much but…"

"It's enough. More than enough." Shin replied, smiling like a he did so many years ago, strengthening the hug as Rex reached them, shrugging because he needed to do nothing else

It was almost sunrise when Shin arrived to his room. He didn't bother to lighten up the candle, instead finding his bed, taking off the costume, getting into the covers just as the first ray of sunlight entered the room, illuminating his bedside table. A single, large Moogle-plushie sat there, as if staring at him. Shin gave it a warm smile, closed his eyes and said:

"Just one more week…" as he lay down on his bed. For a moment, he thought he had just seen a shining star extinguish, a chill running up his spine. Shaking his head, he ignored it, going into an uneasy sleep.

**(A/N): **

**TheJadeDragon37**: Yeah I didn't write that.

**The Unknowing Herald**: Surprise, bitchaz

**Jade**: Anything you'd want to say to the readers after dropping that bomb on them?

**Herald**: Welcome, dear Jade's readers... the playing field has changed, for I, Herald, have arrived! *Insert evil laugh and thunder crashing here*

**Jade**: Someone's going to need to protect the characters.

**Herald**: Pity there ain't gonna be that someone.

**Jade**: No, I get mean in Hardships. Mika's chapter was a cakewalk compared to what we have planned.

**Herald**: That's the beauty of it. *Joker laugh*

*Jade's OCs cower in a corner* HELP US JADE!

**Shin**: There is no escape! At least with more to share the pain... I will be spared of the full brunt of it!

**Herald**: Yeah... No. You getting a major "mishap".

**Jade**: With a dragon. It's okay though, you get the girl.

**Herald**: Everyone gets the girl. The ones who don't, become Krillin.

**Jade**: Doomed to repeatedly die.

**Herald**: And only be mildly useful to the plot. By dying.

**Jade**: Any guess as to who takes Krillin's place?

*Everyone grabs onto to their pairing.*

**Mika**: Oh boy... please not me!

**Jade**: Oh don't worry, we got other shit planned for you.

**Herald**: We all know how Herald rolls. The more I like a character... the worse it gets.

**Terra**: The... the memories...

**Jade**: Read his stories if you're lost as to what he's talking about... poor poor Terra.

*Rin, Mika, Sol, and Luna huddle together crying in a dark corner*


End file.
